The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’s oil output will set another record high in October, as Nigerian and Libyan output partially recovered from disruptions and Iraq boosted exports. According to shipping data and information from industry sources, supply from OPEC has risen to 33.82mb/d in October from a revised 33.69mb/d in September, Reuters reported.
That would be 820,000b/d bpd above the top end of a target output range OPEC agreed to adopt in September to limit supplies. Production near 34mb/d would prolong the supply surplus weighing on the market, and thus add skepticism about OPEC’s ability to reach an agreement on a production freeze, informed OilandGas People.
Supply has risen since OPEC in 2014 dropped its historic role of fixing output to prop up prices as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran pumped more. Production has also climbed due to the return of Indonesia in 2015 and Gabon in July as members. October’s supply from OPEC excluding Gabon and Indonesia, at 32.88mb/d, is the highest since 1997.
The increase was led by Nigeria, Libya and Iraq. Saudi Arabia has kept supply steady to lower, but still within sight of the record high reached during the summer of 2016. Fellow Gulf producers the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait both pumped slightly more. The biggest drop in production was in Angola because of planned maintenance on the Dalia crude stream. While, OPEC’s smallest producer Gabon pumped less because of a workers’ strike, which cut output for part of the month.
