Dubai: Oil production in Oman, which is not an Opec member, rose 2.3 per cent in October compared to an average of daily production from January through September.

Oil production rose to 995,300 barrels of oil per day (bpd), data from the ministry showed, compared to a daily average of 972,400 bpd in the first nine months of the year. The country exported 772,323 bpd of crude oil and condensates, the ministry said in a tweet.

China is the biggest buyer of Omani crude followed by India and Japan. In the fist nine months of the year, China imported 179.73 million barrels of crude oil, while India imported 19.75 million barrels and Japan shipped 13.45 million barrels of oil.

Saudi Arabia produced a record of more than 11 million bpd on expectations that it would be able to fill in the void left due to sanctions on Iran. But last minute waivers from the US government to 8 countries meant excess supplies in the market, causing a more than 30 per cent fall in oil prices.

“I think the good news is that the fundamentals are not supporting the fall in prices,” Salim Bin Nasser Al Aufi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas was reported as saying. “If fundamentals are not supporting, then there must be something else,” he added. Oman expects oil prices to remain between $70-80 (Dh257-Dh294) per barrel this year.