According to the report, Iran’s August oil output rose 143,000 barrels from a month earlier – the highest increase in the table – hitting 3 million barrels per day (bpd), following top producer Saudi Arabia and Iraq, respectively.

According to secondary sources, total crude oil production of 13 OPEC member states averaged 27.45m bpd in August 2023, higher by 113,000 bpd month-on-month, the report added.

Crude oil output increased mainly in Iran, Nigeria, and Iraq, while production in Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Venezuela decreased.

Saudi Arabia’s August oil output stood at 8.967m bpd and Iraq’s at 4.277m bpd.

Iran, Venezuela, and Libya are exempt from the existing OPEC+ deal to limit oil supply.

The report also indicated that the average price of Iran’s heavy oil rose by 7.5 percent month-on-month or $6.10 to $87.58 a barrel in August.

Iran's crude oil production reached 2.857mn bpd in July, which was then only 40,000 bpd short of becoming the third-largest oil producer in OPEC.

The average daily oil production of Iran was 2.554m bpd in 2022, which is 162,000 bpd higher than the production level in 2021. Iran was the fifth-largest OPEC producer during the year.

The OPEC producers had an average oil production of 28.861m bpd in 2022, which indicates a rise of 2.509m bpd from the previous year.