Mubasher: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has ramped up its oil production in October to the highest level in almost two years, more than offsetting a shortfall in Iranian exports, according to a news report.

OPEC production reached 33.31 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, rising 390,000 bpd month-on-month, a survey by Thomson Reuters found on Wednesday.

The largest production increase came from the UAE, which added 200,000 bpd to a total of 3.25 million bpd. The Gulf state said its production capacity would reach 3.5 billion bpd by the year-end.

The second largest increase came from Libya where production reached an average of 1.22 million bpd, rising by 170,000 bpd in October, the survey showed.

However, Libyan output remained volatile due to unrest, raising concerns over the stability of current OPEC production.

Saudi Arabia supplied 10.65 million bpd this month, closing to a record high, according to the survey.

OPEC members agreed last June to pump more supplies following pressure from US President Donald Trump to curb soaring prices and compensate the expected shortage after Iranian exports stopped.

Under the pact, OPEC members, Russia and other non-OPEC producers to return to 100% compliance with output limits that started in January 2017. This came months after underproduction in Venezuela and Angola pushed compliance to 160%.

Brent futures hit a four-year high of $86.74 per barrel (pb) in early October, but have since retreated to $76 pb as concerns over tight market supplies waned.

“Oil producers appear to be successfully offsetting the supply outages from Iran and Venezuela,” Frankfurt-based Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch told the news agency.

12 OPEC members in October lowered compliance to 107% as they raised output, from a revised 122% in September, approaching as close as the 100% adherence since last June, Reuters survey showed.