OPEC oil production rose in August to its highest level since the early days of the pandemic in 2020 as operations in Libya recover, according to Reuters. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) produced 29.58 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, up 690,000 bpd from July and the highest level since April 2020, according to Reuters polls. OPEC and allies, a group known as OPEC+, are backing out of production cuts adopted in 2020, when the pandemic took hold. Production has been below the promised by the association for months. The latest increment to the OPEC+ agreement to back out of the 2020 cuts called for an increase by all producers of 648,000 bpd in August, including about 413,000 bpd from the 10 countries participating in the cartel. With many producers unable to increase production due to insufficient investment in oilfields, OPEC’s ten members achieved a 300,000 bpd increase from July and are still producing much of the deal required, according to the survey. The group’s production was 1.4 million bpd below the August target, against a deficit of 1.3 million bpd in July. OPEC+ meets tomorrow and sources familiar with the matter said that the potential production cuts signaled about two weeks ago by Saudi Arabia may not be imminent and will likely coincide with the replenishment of Iranian supply if a nuclear deal is reached. . Libya, one of the exempted members of OPEC’s production agreements, saw the biggest increase in August, to 400,000 bpd. The second largest, at 100,000 bpd, came from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter. However, all but one survey sources assessed the kingdom’s production to be below the 11 million bpd quota. The Reuters research aims to track supply to the market and is based on data provided by external sources, data from Refinitiv Eikon flows, information from tanker trackers such as Petro-Logistics, and provided by sources in oil companies, OPEC and consultants.
