OPEC Oil Output Hits 3 Year High in June

OPEC oil supply in June has climbed to a three-year high due to record or near-record output from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, a Reuters survey found, underlining the focus of the group’s top exporters on market share.

The boost from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries puts output further above its target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) and comes despite outages in Libya and Nigeria that curbed supplies.

OPEC supply has risen in June to 31.60 million bpd from a revised 31.30 million bpd in May, according to the survey, based on shipping data and information from sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.

The group has raised output by more than 1.3 million bpd since it decided in November 2014 to defend market share rather than prices. A final deal between world powers and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear work could add to supplies.

“If sanctions were to be eased, additional oil from Iran would flood onto the already oversupplied oil market,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

OPEC at a meeting on June 5 kept its policy unchanged, amid signs that the near-halving of oil prices since June 2014 was boosting demand and putting a dampener on the U.S. shale boom.

via Reuters

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