OPEC oil production surged last month, more than making up for a decline in Iranian supply due to U.S. economic sanctions, the International Energy Agency says.
The Washington Post reports that in its closely watched monthly oil market report, the IEA said crude oil output in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries climbed in August by 420,000 barrels a day, to average 32.63 million barrels a day.
That was the cartel’s biggest month-on-month increase in more than two years, bringing the supply from the group’s 15 producers to a nine-month high. The increase mainly came from higher production in Libya, Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia—the de-facto head of OPEC.
The jump in production “far outweighed losses from Iran ahead of U.S. sanctions,” the agency says.
It’s a sign that Saudi Arabia—the world’s largest exporter of crude—and its production allies are moving rapidly to fill global supply outages and keep the market in balance.
The spike in OPEC output brought total global supply to a record 100 million barrels a day in August, according to the IEA, a Paris-based organization that advises governments and corporations on energy trends.
OPEC, in its own monthly oil market report on Wednesday, says its production had risen by 278,000 barrels a day last month.
