Iran, which has said it’s exempt from OPEC’s accord to cut production, told the group it raised output by the most since international sanctions were lifted. Iraq, unwilling to curb its supplies, reported a higher level than OPEC’s estimates.

Freed from curbs on its oil trade in January, Iran said it increased output by 210,000 barrels a day to 3.92 million a day in October from the previous month, according to a report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. That’s 230,000 barrels a day more than estimated by OPEC itself, whose members are due to finalize how much each will cut when they gather on November 30. Production from Saudi Arabia, which typically declines at this time of year, remained near record levels.
Oil prices climbed about 16 percent in the weeks after OPEC’s September 28 meeting in Algiers, where the group ended a two-year policy of pumping without limits to agree a production cut aimed at clearing a global surplus. Yet prices have since retreated on doubts the deal can succeed when key members Iran and Iraq argue they shouldn’t need to cut while recovering from losses to war and sanctions.
OPEC’s monthly report contains two sets of production data: one submitted by individual members, known as “direct communication,” and another compiled from external sources such as news agencies and intergovernmental institutions, referred to as “secondary sources.”
Iraq, Iran and Venezuela have said these externally compiled numbers, which will be used when allocating production cuts, underestimate their output, and that their own government data should be used instead.
Iran’s reported production increase of 210,000 barrels in October exceeds the combined gains of the previous five months, OPEC’s data show. Secondary sources showed a more modest addition of 27,500 barrels a day for October.

(Source: Reuters)