OPEC's crude oil production rose in August compared to July, another market survey found on Friday, despite OPEC's continued calls for sticking to the cuts to achieve "market stability."
According to the latest S&P Global Platts survey, OPEC's production increased by 50,000 bpd from July to reach 29.93 million bpd in August, with Iraq, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia boosting output.
Overall compliance with the cuts among the 11 OPEC members with quotas-that is OPEC minus exempted producers Libya, Venezuela, and Iran-fell to 103 percent last month from 117 percent in July, Platts estimates show.
In August, OPEC's largest producer Saudi Arabia pumped 70,000 bpd more than in July, with output at 9.77 million bpd in August-but still more than 500,000 bpd below Riyadh's production cap of 10.3 million bpd.
Iraq, which has always had a sketchy compliance record, pumped 100,000 bpd more in August than in July-production reached 4.88 million bpd last month-exceeding the output quota by 370,000 bpd, the Platts survey showed.
This survey's results are similar to the Reuters survey which showed last week that OPEC's oil production rose by 80,000 bpd from July to 29.61 million bpd in August.
The cartel's oil exports also increased last month to reach their highest level in four months, tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed earlier this week.
In Russia, OPEC's key partner in the OPEC+ coalition curbing output to support oil prices, oil production increased to 11.29 million bpd in August, up from 11.15 million bpd in July, and exceeding Russia's cap under the deal. Rosneft boosted its oil production by 5 percent last month compared to the previous month, according to Russia's energy ministry data cited by Reuters.
Yet, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak affirmed that Russia was still looking to comply in full with its share of the cuts.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More