Global oil output to fall

RIYADH: Global oil production decline rates are set to accelerate, according to a study released by Merrill Lynch yesterday

“The combination of low oil prices and the global credit crunch will prove rather damaging for the oil industry. Our analysis based on the IEA Field by Field Production database finds decline rates at an average of 4.2 percent per annum since 2003. Extrapolating from this sample to create a global production profile, we believe the global decline rate has averaged at least 4.5 year YoY in recent years,” said Francisco Blanch, head of Global Commodities Research at Merrill Lynch in his report entitled, “ML Commodities — Commodity Energy Weekly: Has non-OPEC oil production peaked?”