Kuwait resumes full crude supply to Asia from July

TOKYO: Kuwait resumed the allocation of full contractual crude oil volumes to Asia from July, ending the imposition of a 5 percent curb in place since February 2009, trading sources said on Monday.

The OPEC member nation in May imposed a 5 percent curb on crude supply for July-September, but it lifted the curb in June after OPEC failed to agree on an increase in output despite calls from industrial nations to do so, they said.

Kuwait has notified its Asian customers that it will supply them with full contractual crude oil volumes for October-December, steady from July-September, they added.

In boosting supply, the Middle East nation will also resume a plus 5 percent tolerance option from July, enabling lifters to ask for cargoes to be 5 percent more or less than the contracted volumes, one of them sources said.

Kuwait's crude output averaged 2.6-2.7 million barrels per day (mbpd) in July, peaking at 2.8 mbpd some days, Kuwait's oil minister said earlier this month, adding that Kuwait's output in August would depend on demand.

Copyright Reuters, 2011