The biggest increases came from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where output rose 100,000 b/d to 8.8 million b/d and by 110,000 b/d to 2.28 million b/d, respectively. The latter production up tick was largely due to higher exports from the Turkish Mediterranean port Ceyhan. "The October survey results are good news for consumers, who haven't had much to smile about recently," said John Kingston, Platts global director of oil. "The fact that Iraqi output is up again is very encouraging, especially against a backdrop of news reports about some parts of the country stabilizing. It could be that output from the Iraqi fields, especially those in the north, are no longer hanging by a thread and may be seen as more reliable going forward. It's still a long way to get back to the almost 3 million barrels per day that was being produced just a few months before the March 2003 invasion by the US, but the trends are positive."
Other smaller increases generally ranged between 10,000-30,000 b/d. Angolan output continued its steady climb towards the 2.0 million b/d it is targeting by the end of this year as new production came on stream. Nigerian volumes, still constrained by the ongoing strife in the key Niger Delta producing region, edged up slightly to 2.19 million b/d, the survey showed.
Neither Angola, which joined OPEC in January 2007, nor Iraq participates in OPEC output agreements, though Angola is expected to join the quota system at the beginning of 2008. US light crude futures traded at a record $98.62/barrel on November 7 and top oil consuming countries have been calling for more oil from OPEC, which continues to insist that there is no shortage of crude oil in world markets and that the high oil prices are being driven by factors beyond supply and demand.
