Mubasher: Four Arab countries raised their oil production in January despite the agreement made by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which entails reducing output in order to bolster oil prices.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers had agreed to trim production by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of 2018.

Iraq recorded the highest output increase in the first month of 2018 with 30,200 barrels, bringing its total production to 4.43 million bpd, data released by OPEC on Monday showed.

Saudi Arabia came in second with a 23,300 barrel-rise to 9.97 million bpd in january, followed by Libya with 21,000 barrels to 978,000 bpd.

Kuwait came in fourth in the Arab region with a 6,800-barrel increase to 2.70 million bpd last month, while Guinea raised its production by 3,400 barrels to 134,000 bpd, according to OPEC’s report.

Overall, OPEC output fell in January by 8,100 barrels to 32.30 million bpd on the back of lower production from Venezuela, Nigeria, and Angola.

By 12:53 pm GMT, US crude (Nymex) gained 1.64% or $0.97 to $60.17 per barrel (pb), while Brent crude grew 1.32% or $0.83 to $63.62 pb.