OPEC’s crude oil production remained generally stable in October. Slight production increases in most African OPEC members offset production declines in other regions.
According to Bloomberg’s survey, OPEC countries produced an average of 28.08 million barrels of oil per day in October. This represents an increase of approximately 50,000 b/d compared to the previous month.
While Nigeria stands out in particular for these production increases, countries such as Congo, Gabon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea also increased their production. Nigeria stated that it wanted to restore its production to previous levels in order to obtain a higher production quota, and increased its daily supply by 60,000 barrels to 1.49 million barrels in October.
In response to the production increases of African members, countries such as Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Libya made partial reductions.
Additionally, Russian crude oil shipments increased by an average of 110,000 barrels per day in the week through Oct. 29, reaching 3.64 million barrels per day, according to tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. This increase reflected shipments from Novorossiysk, while there was a decrease in shipments from Russia’s Baltic and Pacific ports.