(Bloomberg) -- OPEC's crude production held steady in December as the group approached a fresh year of output curbs in full compliance with its supply deal.
The 14 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 32.47 million barrels a day, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data.
Libya saw a 30,000-barrel-a-day decline to 970,000 a day following a pipeline blast, which was offset by an increase from Nigeria. Both countries were exempt from cuts last year but are now expected to join the effort with a combined limit of 2.8 million barrels a day. OPEC and its allies agreed Nov. 30 to extend their output agreement until the end of 2018 to balance the market.
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Production in Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest member, slipped by 20,000 barrels a day to 9.95 million a day, the surveyed showed. Venezuela, which has suffered a slump in output amid economic collapse and U.S. sanctions, reduced volumes by a further 50,000 barrels a day to 1.81 million a day.
The 12 OPEC members bound by output caps implemented 121 percent of their pledged cuts in December, the same as the prior month, the survey showed.
--With assistance from Wael Mahdi Anthony DiPaola Mohammed Aly Sergie Stephan Kueffner and Fabiola Zerpa
To contact the reporters on this story: Angelina Rascouet in London at arascouet1@bloomberg.net, Julian Lee in London at jlee1627@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Amanda Jordan
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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