The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has recorded its first monthly increase in oil output this year, according to a Reuters survey.

OPEC produced 29.61 million barrels per day (b/d) in August, recording an 80,000 b/d increase compared with July’s revised figures, which showed the lowest OPEC production since 2014.

Production cuts by Saudi Arabia and the falling output in Iran due to the US sanctions were both compensated by higher supply from Iraq and Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Russia’s output last month was slightly higher than levels agreed under the production cut agreement.

It worth noting that Saudi Arabia’s oil production fell to 9.6 b/d in July, decreasing by around 200,000 b/d compared with June, while Iraq’s crude output rose to 4.62 million b/d in July, its highest level since January 2017.

OPEC and other major producers led by Russia, an alliance known as OPEC+, recently decided to extend the production cut agreement until the end of March 2020. The decision came shortly after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to extend the output cut deal by another six to nine months during a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 2019 G20 Osaka summit in Japan.