Opec production increased to its highest in four years last month, raising the possibility that a rebalancing of the market could take longer than expected, even if non-Opec output remains under pressure from lower investment. Opec production reached 32.77mn b/d in June, its highest since April 2012 and up by almost 300,000 b/d compared with May (see table). Output of 32.5mn b/d in the first half of this year was around 700,000 b/d higher than in the corresponding six months of 2015. The oil market is starting to rebalance, Saudi Arabia says. Oil minister Khalid al-Falih and Opec secretary-general designate Mohammed Barkindo agree that “the market is moving towards balance and that oil prices have started to stabilise”. Supply disruptions in Nigeria, Venezuela and Canada and the continuing civil war in Libya helped return the market more closely to balance earlier than expected in the second quarter.
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