Topic: OPEC

Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia wants an oil price of around $100 a barrel and would like to see global inventories rise before demand picks up in the second half of the year, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Sunday.

Europe's debt crisis and an oil price rally are the biggest threats to global oil demand this year, OPEC said on Friday, adding it was still pumping above its target despite a slide in Iranian production.

To understand the effect that events have  on global oil markets a key figure to watch is the amount of crude produced daily in each country. With data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the Department of Energy, CNBC.com took a look at the countries that produce the most crude oil on that basis. (Production is defined as extraction from the Earth’s crust, prior to the refining process.)

The tale of ever-tightening oil inventories and reduced supply appears to be coming to an end, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.

Societe Generale raised its 2012 forecast for Brent crude to $127 a barrel from $110 prior, citing lower global stockpiles and tighter OPEC spare capacity.

New information suggests that Iran’s oil production may not have fallen as much as other industry reports have speculated. The latest publication of data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) published on Sunday showed Iran produced 3.72 million barrels per day in January, marking the highest output since December 2008.

The Asia region is expected to drive demand for oil over the course of the year, according to the latest International Energy Agency report.

Duri, Cabinda and Su Tu Den. The names are far more exotic, and less known, than Brent, the oil benchmark closely watched by investors around the world. But these crude streams are at the center of a supply-demand struggle that is propelling oil prices higher. The FT reports.

Europe's debt crisis and an oil price rally are the biggest threats to global oil demand this year, OPEC said on Friday, adding it was still pumping above its target despite a slide in Iranian production.

Major powers called on Iran to enter "serious dialogue" over its contested nuclear program "without pre-conditions", in a joint statement issued on Thursday following extensive deliberations in Vienna.

It's time for the Republican presidential candidates to stop fighting each other and take on President Obama, real estate mogul Donald Trump told CNBC Tuesday.

"There's nothing inevitable about it," one economist says about the widespread predictions about $5 gas. "To a large extent it depends on what happens in the Middle East."

President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are deeply at odds over how fast the clock is ticking toward possible military action against Iran's nuclear program, and their talks on Monday are unlikely to change that.

Iranians head to the polls on Friday for the first time since disputed presidential elections in 2009, and although most experts do not believe this week's parliamentary elections will witness similar tension, it may still prove a crucial turning point in a domestic power struggle that has been in the making for years.

The leaders of OPEC are "sitting around their table, setting the price of oil and laughing at us because we have no leadership," real estate mogul Donald Trump told CNBC Tuesday.