OPEC Thursday said it produced an average of 30.998 million b/d of crude
in October, up from an estimated 30.731 million b/d in September mainly on the
back of higher volumes from Angola, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

In its latest monthly oil market report, OPEC said Saudi Arabia increased
output to 8.73 million b/d last month from 8.62 million b/d in September.

Smaller increases of 46,700 b/d and 64,400 b/d were seen in October from
Angola and Iraq respectively, OPEC said in its report, based on estimates of
OPEC production by secondary sources.

Output by the ten OPEC members bound by production accords--excluding
Angola and Iraq--pumped an average of 27.015 million b/d last month, up from
26.85 million b/d in September and not far shy of their 27.253 million b/d
target which became effective at the beginning of November.

The OPEC 10 agreed in mid-September to boost their combined production by
500,000 b/d from November 1.

OPEC said it believed the increase, combined with an expected rise in
volumes from Iraq and Angola, would help soothe world oil markets.
"The higher agreed OPEC production levels effective since November and
expected output from Angola and Iraq should help to ease the perception of
market tightness," it said in the report.

OPEC's current production is broadly in line with its estimate of the
'call' on its crude for 2007 of 31.07 million b/d. The call on OPEC is seen
falling to 30.84 million b/d in 2008, OPEC said.

For the time being oil demand has withstood the impact of record crude
prices well, OPEC said, largely thanks to "booming non-OECD economies."

Nonetheless, OPEC cut its estimate of world oil demand in 2008 to 87.01
million b/d, down 80,000 b/d from its previous monthly report. The expected
level would represent an increase of 1.31 million b/d from this year's
estimated 85.7 million b/d.

On the supply side, OPEC reduced its estimate of non-OPEC production next
year to 51.26 million b/d, down 110,000 b/d from its previous forecast but
still up by more than 1 million b/d from this year's 50.23 million b/d.