OPEC produced more oil in August than it did in July as the cartel continued to relax its production cuts, a Reuters survey has revealed, with recovering demand also stimulating more production. The August increase amounted to 950,000 bpd, the survey said, to a total of 24.27 million bpd. This appears to be despite Iraq’s pledge to cut an additional 400,000 bpd from its output in August to compensate for its undercompliance with the OEPC+ cuts. Nigeria had also pledged to effect additional production cuts to compensate for its overproduction since May. When OPEC+ extended the record production cuts of 9.7 million bpd by one month through the end of July, the coalition agreed that all countries in the pact should comply 100 percent with their quotas, and those who have not, should be compensating for lack of compliance by overachieving in the cuts in July, August, and September. […]