By Alex Lawler
LONDON- OPEC oil output rose for a second month in November as Libya’s production recovered after resolution of a political crisis, a Reuters survey found, though members making cuts pledged to the wider OPEC+ alliance kept output broadly steady.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 26.51 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, up 180,000 bpd from October, the survey showed on Tuesday, with Libya again posting the largest increase.
Libyan output recovered after resolution of a dispute over control of the central bank, allowing full production to resume at oilfields and applying downward pressure on prices. The country is exempt from agreements by the broader OPEC+ group of producers to limit output.
OPEC+ is scheduled to meet on Thursday and could extend output cuts into 2025 in the face of global demand concerns and rising output outside the group, sources have told Reuters.
Other increases of 50,000 bpd each came from Nigeria and from Iran.
There were no significant drops in output. Iraqi production edged lower, the survey found, reflecting efforts to boost compliance with its OPEC+ quota.
OPEC pumped about 16,000 bpd above the implied target for the nine members covered by supply cut agreements, the survey found, with Gabon exceeding its target by the largest amount.
The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market and is based on shipping data provided by external sources, flows data from financial group LSEG, information from companies that track flows, such as Kpler and Petro-Logistics, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.
OPEC+, which pumps about half the world’s oil, has been gradually aiming to unwind output cuts through 2025. However, a slowdown in global demand and rising output outside the group pose hurdles to that plan and have weighed on prices.
“It is likely that this reduction will be extended for the first quarter,” one of the sources told Reuters. All of the sources declined to be identified by name.
Despite the group’s supply cuts, global oil benchmark Brent crude has mostly stayed in a $70 to $80 per barrel range this year and on Monday was trading around $72 a barrel, having hit a 2024 low below $69 in September.
OPEC+ members are holding back 5.86 million barrels per day of output, or about 5.7 percent of global demand, in a series of steps agreed since 2022 to support the market.
An output hike of 180,000 bpd – a fraction of the total – was due to come in January from the eight members involved in OPEC+s most recent cuts of 2.2 million bpd. The hike has been delayed from October due to falling prices. – Reuters
