Oil prices are climbing despite a four year high in oil output from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to analysts.
OPEC production reached a four year high this month, climbing by 400,000 barrels per day (b/d) last month.
It rose to 31.27 million b/d in February, the highest volume from the 12 producing countries since the autumn of 2008, found a Platts survey.
John Kingston, Platts global director of oil said: “What’s fascinating about these numbers is that they are so much above what the International Energy Agency has said is necessary for OPEC to produce to keep inventories flat – what’s known as the OPEC ‘call.’
“For all of 2012, the call is 29.9 million b/d. Instead, OPEC is producing well over a million barrels per day above that, yet oil prices continue to climb.”
Libya’s recovering oil production accounted for a large portion of the month’s increase.