RIYADH, Aug 15: Opec pumped 280,000 bpd higher in July than June. The 12 members oil cartel pumped an average 30.5 million b/d of crude in July, against June's 30.22 million b/d, a survey conducted by Platts showed. Production from the 10 members bound by output agreements averaged 26.71 million b/d, up 110,000 b/d from June’s 26.6 million b/d, the survey showed.

Iraq, struggling to rebuild its oil industry after years of United Nations sanctions followed by a US-led war, does not participate in Opec output pacts. Nor, at this stage, does Angola, which joined the producer group at the beginning of this year, after the output curbs currently in place were agreed. Opec-10 production has not fallen anywhere near the 25.8 million b/d target that came into effect at the beginning of February and has edged up over the past three months. The latest estimates leave Opec-10 production more than 900,000 b/d above the output ceiling, as envisaged by the oil cartel.

The biggest single output increase came from Iraq, consequent to a recovery in exports from the south and some exports of northern crude from Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean.

However as John Kingston, Platts Global Director of Oil said, “with the increase coming from Iraq, it does raise the question over whether such a jump can be sustained.” Oil industry is looking for a positive answer on this count.

Nigerian output also showed some recovery, with Shell inching its way back into the 380,000 b/d Forcados field and sending some workers back to abandoned flow stations in the remote swamps around the Forcados terminal.

The field was shut during February 2006 after militants bombed the export terminal as part of a campaign to wrest greater control of the country’s oil resources.

Other, smaller increases came from Angola, Iran, Qatar and the UAE.

Opec is next scheduled to meet on September 11 in Vienna to discuss its output quota.