Mubasher: The production of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reached its highest level this year in June, as member nations exempt from output curbs increased.

OPEC member countries raised their oil production by 260,000 barrels per day compared with May, as per a Bloomberg News survey of analysts,

Libya and Nigeria accounted for half of this increase, as they are exempted from making cuts under the deal agreed between OPEC and major non-OPEC producers.

“Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in OPEC, increased output by 90,000 barrels a day in June, while Angola and the United Arab Emirates both lifted production by 40,000 barrels a day from May,” the survey showed according to Bloomberg.

In May, the Saudi minister of energy, industry and mineral resources, Khalid Al Falih, said that OPEC and non-OPEC producers are committed to the goal of reducing global oil inventories to a five-year average.

The minister expected that this goal would be achieved in the very near future, Reuters reported.

The Saudi minister and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak also expected that their cooperation in oil markets will last longer after the current joint oil output agreement, which expires in March 2018.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed in May on extending production cuts for nine months.