OPEC crude production slipped in February from the highest level in Bloomberg data going back 20 years. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reduced production by 79,000 barrels to 33.06 million a day this month, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Nigeria and Iraq led declines, while Iranian production climbed to the highest level in more than three years. OPEC set aside its output target of 30 million barrels a day at its Dec. 4 meeting in Vienna. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, has led the group in fighting for market share against higher-cost producers such as shale drillers in the U.S. “I wouldn’t read too much into the decline because Iraqi production is volatile, and the same goes for Nigeria,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. Nigeria’s production fell 139,000 barrels a day to […]