A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf July 25, 2005. OPEC’s oil output fell in May from near a record high, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, as attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry and other outages outweighed increases in Iran and Gulf members. A rise in supply from Saudi Arabia plus Iran suggests the group’s top producers remain focused on market share, following the failure of an initiative in April between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to support prices by freezing output. With OPEC meeting in Vienna on Thursday, outages are effectively achieving the supply restraint on which producers could not agree. Those disruptions are supporting oil prices, which are close to 2016 highs, and the rally has reduced the urgency of any new attempt at deliberate supply curtailment. “There is a tiny chance of […]