OPEC's crude oil production dropped to below 30 million bpd in June, down by 170,000 bpd from May and the lowest monthly output since April 2014, as higher Saudi oil supply was insufficient to compensate for declines in the cartel members subject to U.S. sanctions, Iran and Venezuela, the monthly Reuters survey showed on Friday.
OPEC pumped 29.60 million bpd in June, according to the Reuters survey that tracks supply to the market from shipping data and sources at OPEC, oil companies, and consulting firms.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, boosted supply by 100,000 bpd in June over May, to 9.8 million bpd, the survey showed.
Despite the increase, Saudi Arabia was comfortably below its 10.311-million-bpd cap under the OPEC+ deal as it had been overachieving in its share of the cuts by 500,000 bpd in the previous months.
The Saudi production rise, however, was not enough to offset declines in Iran and Venezuela, which are exempt from the production cut pact but which continue to see their output drop because of the U.S. sanctions on their respective oil industries.
Production in Angola, Iraq, and Kuwait was also lower in June compared to May, while Nigeria raised its output, according to the Reuters survey. Related: Shale Boom Reshuffles Global Top 50 Oil & Gas List
In May, OPEC's oil production had dropped to a 2015 low of 30.17 million bpd, as a major 200,000-bpd increase in Saudi Arabia's production was unable to offset an even larger production decline in Iran after the U.S. removed all sanction waivers for Iranian buyers, last month's Reuters survey showed.
OPEC will release its official crude oil production data for June in the Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) on Thursday, July 11.
Meanwhile, OPEC's crude oil exports in June gained 761,000 bpd from May to hit an average of 23.7 million bpd, figures from energy data provider Kpler showed this week. In May, the cartel's exports sank below 22 million bpd.
The increase came thanks to stronger exports from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iraq, with Saudi Arabia raising daily loadings by some 135,000 bpd in June. Iraq's loadings rose by more than 100,000 bpd last month, but the UAE marked the strongest increase at over 400,000 bpd, according to Kpler.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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