OPEC basket drops 99 cents to USD 95.03 per barrel 

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reported a 99 cent drop in its price for a barrel of oil to 95.03 dollar per barrel (dpb) on Monday, down from Friday's 96.02 dpb.

OPEC said April average price came to 118.18 dpb, which means average price of OPEC's basket of crudes since start of the year till end of last week is 96.

34 dpb. Last year's average price for the OPEC reference basket was 107.46 dpb.

The OPEC Reference Basket (ORB), introduced on 16 June 2005, is currently made up of Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE), and Merey (Venezuela).
OPEC oil ministers had in their meeting last Thursday decided to keep output cap at 30 million barrels a day despite a surplus of over one million barrels a day in the market at present. They also stressed it was vital members keep to their agreed quotas.

Saudi Arabia, which is anxious over possibility of hike in prices due to the stoppage of Iranian oil exports due to sanctions which come in effect as of July, was a main pusher for keeping the output without cut, to guard against effects of any shortage in supply.

There is an opinion that the over-quota supply coming from Saudi Arabia is largely behind the jump of OPEC's actual production to 31.6 million barrels a day, while the official cap of 30 million barrels had been agreed since December.