OPEC Output at Highest Level

OPEC’s crude production climbed to the highest level since 2016 as increases by Saudi Arabia and Libya offset losses stemming from impending US sanctions on Iran.
The group’s 15 members boosted output by 430,000 bpd to 33.33 million barrels per day in October, according to a Bloomberg survey of officials, analysts and ship-tracking data. 
That is the highest since November 2016, just before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries implemented production cuts to clear a global glut.
Since this summer their policy has reversed completely, to what Saudi Arabia’s energy minister last week described as “produce as much as you can mode.” 
American sanctions against Iran which takes effect this weekend, are fanning concerns that a shortage could develop before the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest and most influential member, increased output by 150,000 bpd to 10.68 million bpd last month, the highest in Bloomberg data going back to 1962. That’s still below the kingdom’s own estimate of its record output, at 10.72 million bpd in November 2016.
An even larger gain was seen last month in Libya, which has overcome political feuds and terrorist attacks to reach the highest output level since 2013. The North African nation increased by 170,000 bpd to 1.22 million bpd.
Iran, which has seen many buyers flee as US sanctions neared, continued to decline and is producing the least crude since 2016. It slipped by a further 10,000 bpd to 3.42 million in October, though estimates for September were revised higher.