Saudi Arabia beats own oil record, to produce 11m barrels daily in July

Saudi Arabia plans to pump up to 11m barrels of crude oil day in July, the highest in its history raising questions why Nigeria’s oil production has remained stubbornly below 2.5m daily for decades.

The new Saudi level will be rising up from about 10.8m bbl/day in June, an industry source familiar with Saudi oil production plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

OPEC agreed with Russia and other oil-producing allies on Saturday to raise output from July by about 1m bbl/day, with Saudi Arabia pledging a “measurable” supply boost but giving no specific numbers.

In the meantime, Brent prices rose Wednesday morning to $76.65 a barrels following supply disruptions in Libya and Canada, and after US officials told oil importers to stop buying Iranian crude from November.

Crude is approaching the highs of May as a decision by the OPEC/Russia to boost output by 1 million barrels a day is seen “a little short” of what’s required to ease supply concerns.

Oil prices were also supported by an American Petroleum Institute (API) report that was said to show U.S. inventories dropped by 9.23 million barrels last week.

In Libya the oil ports of Hariga and Zueitina appeared to be working normally on Tuesday, sources said, after eastern-based forces said they had handed control terminals in the east to a parallel National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Benghazi.

Libya, politically divided since the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, has two rival versions of the NOC, the internationally recognised NOC based in Tripoli in the west and the alternative NOC in the eastern city of Benghazi.

There is also positive market news from Venezuela PDVSA and Chevron have begun to restart their 210kbbl/day Petropiar heavy crude upgrader after a nearly month-long, repair-related shutdown and a fire, according to the state-run company and two sources close to the facility.