By Christopher Alessi 
 

LONDON--OPEC oil production climbed in November, driven by record output from Saudi Arabia, even as the group's plan to impose fresh production curbs next month has helped to put a floor under crude prices, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

In its closely watched monthly oil market report, the IEA said crude output in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 100,000 barrels a day on month to reach 33.03 million barrels a day in November. Saudi Arabia--the de-facto head of OPEC--was the main impetus behind that jump, with production surging by 410,000 barrels a day to a historic high of 11.06 million barrels a day.

OPEC's output was also bolstered by record production from the United Arab Emirates, whose output climbed by 110,000 barrels a day to hit 3.33 million barrels day, surpassing Iran to become the group's third-largest producer. The soaring output from both Saudi Arabia and the UAE offset steep declines in Iran as a result of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic's oil industry, the IEA said.

The agency's report stands in contrast to OPEC's own monthly oil market report, which was released Wednesday and showed a slight decline in the cartel's November output despite ballooning Saudi production.

Both reports come less than a week after OPEC agreed with its non-member partner producers--led by Russia--to collectively cut crude output by 1.2 million barrels a day starting in January. OPEC is slated to curb production by 800,000 barrels a day, while Russia and nine allied producers will shoulder the remainder of the cuts. The move comes on the heels of a 30% selloff in crude prices, triggered in part by growing concerns over a burgeoning supply glut.

"The agreement aims to achieve relative stability and to bring the market toward balance," the IEA report said. "So far, the Brent crude oil price seems to have found a floor, remaining close to $60 a barrel."

The OPEC-led deal initially bolstered crude prices by as much as 5% after it was announced Friday last week, before prices gave up some of those gains at the start of this week.

Brent, the global oil benchmark, closed down 0.1% Wednesday at $60.15 a barrel.

The IEA said total global oil supply in November fell by 360,000 barrels a day on month, as a result of outages in the North Sea and Canada, as well as a decline in Russian output.

Meanwhile, the agency kept its oil demand growth forecasts for this year and next unchanged, at 1.3 million barrels a day and 1.4 million barrels a day, respectively.

Commercial oil stocks in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development--a group of industrialized, oil-consuming nations that includes the U.S.--rose by 5.7 million barrels in October to stand at 2.872 billion barrels. That marks the first time commercial petroleum inventories were above the closely watched latest five-year average--a key metric for oil-market balance--since March, the IEA said.

Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 13, 2018 04:14 ET (09:14 GMT)