OPEC’s output dropped sharply in October. A sharp drop in Iraqi oil production has driven OPEC’s overall output down, as the seemingly relentless ascent of the country’s energy industry started feeling the strain from security problems and insufficient investments. Iraq’s production fell by 195,400 barrels a day in October to just over 4 million barrels a day. The overall output is still near record highs for Iraq, but the steep monthly drop offered fresh evidence that the country’s surprising ramp up over the past year—when oil prices plunged—may not be sustainable. “In a low-price environment, we are approaching peak capacity from Iraq,” Olivier Jakob, head of Swiss oil consultancy Petromatrix, said in a note Thursday. Iraq’s decline was the largest in an overall output fall reported Thursday by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in its closely watched monthly market report. The group produced 31.382 million barrels a […]