OPEC Monthly Output Highest Since August 2012

Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries climbed to its highest monthly level since Aug. 2012, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts released Monday. OPEC production in June rose by 170,000 barrels per day from a month earlier, to 31.28 million barrels per day. OPEC is now pumping nearly 1.3 million barrels above its production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day. Output from Saudi Arabia edged up to 10.35 million barrels a day. The survey comes as oil prices hit their worst level in months. August crude suffered its worst one-day drop since April, falling $4.40, or 7.7%, to settle at $52.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.