OPEC oil output rose for a sixth month in December, a Reuters survey found, buoyed by further recovery in Libyan production and smaller rises elsewhere in the group.
The 13-member OPEC group pumped 25.59 million bbl/d in December, the survey found, up 280,000 bbl/d from November and a further increase from a three-decade low reached in June.
OPEC output is set to rise further in January after OPEC+—which groups OPEC and other producers including Russia—agreed to ease output cuts.
Under a deal on February output agreed on Jan. 5, most of OPEC+ will keep production steady while Saudi Arabia has offered to make a big voluntary cut.
“The additional production cut by Saudi Arabia will probably prevent the oil market from becoming oversupplied, which risked happening otherwise,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank, referring to the first quarter.
In December, the biggest supply increase came from Libya, an OPEC member which is exempt from OPEC+ cuts, the survey found. Libyan output had been largely shut down for months due to unrest.
The OPEC producers bound by the supply deal also boosted output in December, the survey found, which meant their compliance with agreed output cuts slipped to 99% from 102% in November and hit their lowest level since August.
