OPEC output 'highest in three years'

Oil production from OPEC's 12 members hit 30.785 million barrels per day in November, the highest level in three years with Saudi Arabia pumping almost 10 million bpd, according to MEES magazine. Excluding Iraq, which is not part of OPEC's quota system due to the country's unrest, the cartel pumped 27.94 million bpd in November, almost 800,000 bpd higher than the previous month, MEES said in its latest edition to appear on Monday. Half of the monthly increase came from Saudi Arabia, which boosted its output from 9.5 million bpd in October to as high as 9.9 million bpd last month, said MEES which put Iraqi production at 2.845 million bpd. The official production quota of members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries without Iraq stands at 24.84 million bpd since January 2009, but most members have been overproducing to meet rising demand. Saudi Gulf partners Kuwait and United Arab Emirates have both exceeded their OPEC quotas with Kuwait and UAE pumping 2.69 million bpd and 2.49 million bpd, respectively, way above their individual quotas of 2.22 million bpd. OPEC meets on Wednesday, possibly to decide on oil output levels. The International Energy Agency estimated that actual OPEC production, excluding Iraq, stood at 27.32 million bpd in October, or 2.48 mbpd more than the cartel's official target. Taking into account overproduction and output by Iraq, OPEC's dozen members are supplying 34 percent of the world's crude oil.