OPEC oil production up by 1 lakh barrel/day

Oil production by the 12 member countries of Oil Producing and Exporting Countries, including Iraq which does not participate in the consortium's output pacts, has increased by 1,00,000 barrel per day (bpd) to 302.9 lakh bpd in May from 301.9 lakh bpd in April.

Production by the 10 member countries, excluding Iraq and Angola which joined the group this year only, increased by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 266.4 lakh bpd from 265.7 lakh bpd in April, according to a report by energy and metals information provider Platts.

Increased production from Algeria, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Angola totalling 190,000 bpd were partly offset by 90,000

bpd decrease from Nigeria, the Platts Survey circulated by Asianet said.

"The good news for consumers is that higher prices do appear to be spurring concurrent increase in production. But the bad news remains the continuing situation in Nigeria, where production is down again, largely due to continued rebel activity in the Niger Delta," Platts global director of oil John Kingston said.

The 266.4 lakh bpd production is way above the OPEC-10 target of 258 million bpd, the survey added.