LONDON Ñ OPEC has increased oil production to record levels.
Industry sources said OPEC has increased total oil output to at least
29.1 million barrels per day. This marked an increase of 440,000 barrels per
day.
A report by Petrologistics said the latest output figure was the highest
since December 1979, exceeding the 29.76 million pumped by OPEC members in
November 2000. Petrologistics said all 10 Opec producers have already been
producing oil far in excess of official quotas, Middle East Newsline reported.
The report said that with
the exception of Saudi Arabia, OPEC members have little or no spare capacity
left.
Saudi Arabia has reached an oil output of at least 9.4 million barrels
per day. The United Arab Emirates has bolstered production by 50,000 barrels
per day for a total output of 2.4 million. Libya was reported to be
producing 1.65 million barrels of oil per day.