(Ecofin Agency) - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its Monthly Oil Market Report for this month, revealed that oil production for May reduced by 100,000 bpd to 32.36 million bbls, surpassing the group’s total production quota of 30 million bpd.

The oil production increased mostly in Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia and dropped in Nigeria, Venezuela and Iraq.

Experts have said that the demand for OPEC crude oil will increase this year by 1.8 million bpd to 31.5 million barrels compared to the 29.7 million bpd level in 2015.

The group kept its outlook for global oil demand in 2016, which is estimated to increase by 1.2 million bbls to 94.18 million bpd.

“The OPEC Reference Basket has improved considerably from the low levels seen at the start of this year to average $43.21 per barrel in May. For the same month, ICE Brent averaged $47.65 per barrel and Nymex WTI averaged $46.68 per barrel,” the group said in the report.

Last year, the global demand for oil rose by 1.54 million bpd, to 92.98 million bbls. The outlook stays unchanged compared to the former forecast.

However, the outlook for oil supplies from non-OPEC members remained unchanged since 2015 when they reached 57.14 million bpd. This year, it is expected that production in non-OPEC countries will drop by 0.74 million bpd to 56.4 million bbls, Sputnik news reports.

Anita Fatunji