OPEC June output hits record

OPEC produced a record volume of crude in June, a survey released late on Thursday found, as the combined output from the countries gathered under the organisation’s umbrella neared 33 million bopd.

According to a survey based on shipping data conducted by Reuters, the block produced 32.81 million bopd in June, up from 32.57 million in May and beating the previous record, set in January, by 160,000 bopd. Reuters first started surveying in 1997.

The record supply is credited to restored production in Nigeria, where an uptick militant attacks had reduced the country’s output from around 2.2 million bopd to 1.3 million bopd. On Thursday, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation group managing director Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said output had recovered to 1.9 million bopd. The UAE and Saudi Arabia also chipped in, according to the survey, having increased supplies by 50,000 bopd each.

Earlier this week, OPEC also welcomed back Gabon, with acting Secretary-General Abdalla Salem El Badri on Wednesday holding talks with Gabonese Minister of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons Etienne Dieudonné Ngoubou. “We are very happy to welcome back Gabon,” El Badri said. Gabon rejoins after an absence of more than 20 years – the country left in 1994. Ngoubou said the country was looking forward to becoming “an active and engaged partner in OPEC’s activities.”