RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Iraqi and Saudi oil production increased in the past month, boosting OPEC production by 350,000 bpd as the price stays above $90 per barrel.
Iraq averaged 2.28 million barrels per day in October, according to a new survey by the global energy information firm Platts. It's a jump from the 2.17 million bpd in September, which itself was a feat as Iraqi output has struggled to stay above 2 million bpd.
Saudi Arabia increased production by about 100,000 bpd to 8.8 million, continuing to be the world's largest producer.
Iraq's production increase is a result of repairs, maintenance and increased security along its northern pipeline from the Kirkuk oil fields to a port in Turkey. The pipeline has been a major target of insurgents and has been offline more than on since 2003.
But throughput has been respectively steady in the past few months, allowing for more production from the super giant Kirkuk oil field and the sale of more than 20 million barrels of Kirkuk oil.
"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 U.S., but the trends are positive."
All of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' 12 members slightly increased production, aside from Indonesia and Venezuela, which stayed flat.
OPEC produced 31.11 million bpd last month. All but Iraq and Angola are required to abide by a quota, which was 27.25 million bpd starting Nov. 1. The OPEC 10 members abiding by the quota produced 27.08 million bpd in October.
