OPEC Output Rises During March

Oil output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose in March for the first time in seven months as compliance with cutbacks slipped due to higher prices, the Middle East Economic Survey reported. Daily output from the ten OPEC members with quotas, or those excluding Iraq, rose by two hundred and fifty five thousand barrels last month to 22.77 million barrels as oil prices soared close to fifteen percent, the industry newsletter reported. The amount was over one million barrels more than OPEC's target of 21.70 million barrels, with most countries violating their quotas. Oil prices in London rose more than four dollars a barrel in March to close the month at $25.92 a barrel as the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians escalated and threatened to spread to other countries in the region. A survey published earlier this month by the Bloomberg News Agency showed that OPEC output rose 310,000 barrels a day to 25.26 million barrels a day in March.

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