Importance of crude oil production in OPEC as well as Non OPEC nations

OPEC plays a major role in global crude oil productio. The economic growth of the OPEC nations depend upon the revenue earned from crude oil exports. During the year 2005, the production capacity of the twelve member countries accounted for about 31 million barrels per day. The major crude oil producers are Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Iran, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. The OPEC nations export about 23 million barrels of crude oil daily.

OPEC sets the crude oil productio quota for its member nations but the quota system does not apply for Iraq. In January 2010, the OPEC countries produced about 26.76 million barrels per day with an increase from December's overall output which was somewhere around 26.61 million barrels per day. There was an increase in crude oil productio from United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Libya, Nigeria, Algeria and Angola. Iraq did not witness any change in the output and the volume was around 2.49 billion per day. There was a decline in the crude oil productio in Venezuela by 10,000 b/d to 2.21 million barrels per day.

The world's major oil reserves are found in the OPEC member countries and the estimate of crude oil is more than 78 percent. Russia is a major oil producing country though it is not one of the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). During recent times, the oil sector in Russia is suffering due to global economic crisis and the crude oil productio level has declined to some extent. Russia's current oil reserves account for 60 billion barrels, which are mostly found in Western Siberia whereas Eastern Siberia holds approximately 4.7 billion barrels in the oil reserves. The oil refineries in Russia have ineffective facilities and these need to be modernized.

Russia's crude oil exports estimate somewhere around 4.4 million barrels per day and the oil is exported through International pipelines and shipping terminals. The oil exports cover about 70 percent of the crude oil productio. In 1988, Western Siberia, which holds most of the oil reserves of Russia, reached its peak oil production of 12.5 million barrels per day. After the Soviet Union's collapse in the year 1991, crude oil productio witnessed a decline of 6 million barrels per day. The output started increasing slowly and in 2007, crude oil productio was roughly around 9.4 million barrels per day. Russia's current crude oil processing capacity relates to 5.4 million barrels per day. Russia highly depends upon crude oil exports for revenue but it's facing a major issue as the oil fields are getting depleted.

The United States of America and China are also considered as huge oil producing nations but the major portion of the crude oil productio is meant for domestic consumption. In 2009, the United States of America witnessed a tremendous growth in crude oil productio. The reason for an increase in the production was due to a raise in the production rate in North Dakota. The Bakken shale formation and the Prudhoe Bay field improvements have been major contributors towards an increase in the crude oil productio. The recently launched Gulf of Mexico (GOM) deepwater projects will enhance the rate of oil production in 2010. It is believed that non-OPEC production rate will increase in 2010 followed by a decline in the crude oil productio rate during 2011.

For more information and details of How and Why to Invest in Oil and safe Investments through Oil ETFs, Crude Oil Prices, Demand for crude oil, Crude Oil production, Oil Price trends, and all about Oil, do visit our site - http://www.oilprices.org/