Saudi Arabia told OPEC it pumped 10.563 million barrels of crude a day in October, a jump of more than two million barrels a day from September, as Gulf producers restored output disrupted by the war with Iran.

The figure, in OPEC's November monthly oil market report published on Wednesday, is the kingdom's highest reported output since February, when it reported 10.882 million barrels a day. It is slightly above Saudi Arabia's OPEC quota of about 10.5 million barrels a day.

Not all of that oil reached the market. Saudi Arabia put its October supply to the market at 9.203 million barrels a day, with the rest going into storage. OPEC's own estimate, compiled from secondary sources, put Saudi production lower, at 9.194 million barrels a day, up 1.182 million from September.

OPEC+ output nears pre-war levels

Across the wider OPEC+ group, crude production rose by 2.04 million barrels a day in October to 41.23 million, according to secondary-source estimates. That is equivalent to 97% of the 42.72 million barrels a day the group produced in February, before the Iran war disrupted Middle East supply.

Iraq's estimated output rose by 496,000 barrels a day and Kuwait's by 232,000, while Iran's fell by 44,000 to 1.914 million. Russia's production rose by 41,000 barrels a day to 8.668 million. Gulf producers used ship-to-ship transfers to keep exports moving despite disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

Demand forecasts left unchanged

OPEC left its demand outlook unchanged. It still expects world oil demand to grow by 180,000 barrels a day this year and by 2.55 million barrels a day in 2027, to an average of 108.3 million barrels a day.

Brent crude was up nearly 3% at $93.90 a barrel on Wednesday, after falling about 21% since 1 November.