KEY POINTS
  • OPEC oil output increased by 132,000 barrels per day in September to nearly 32.8 million bpd.
  • Supply hikes from Saudi Arabia, Libya, the UAE, Nigeria and Angola offset a drop in production from Iran and Venezuela.
  • OPEC lowered its forecast for oil demand growth, upped its projection for non-OPEC supply increases and said its outlook for the economy has softened.
Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's energy minister and president of OPEC, speaks during a news conference following the 172nd Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, May 25, 2017.

Several OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia and Libya, put enough new barrels on the market in September to offset a drop in production from Iran, where U.S. sanctions are whittling away at that nation's crude exports, according to a monthly report.

The 15-nation producer group also knocked down its forecast for oil demand in 2018 and 2019, and said the outlook for economic growth is softening, particularly in emerging markets. Meanwhile, OPEC raised its forecast for oil supply growth in 2018 from nonmember nations, including the United States.