LONDON: OPEC’s oil output has risen in April from March’s three-month low, a Reuters survey found, although African outages and sabotage in Iraq are keeping supply far below the group’s target.

The largest rise in April came from Saudi Arabia, which boosted supply because of a higher need for crude in domestic power plants. The rise was limited by seasonally low demand outside the country, industry sources said.

Supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has averaged 29.68 million barrels per day (bpd), up from a revised 29.52 million bpd in March, according to the survey based on shipping data and information from sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.

The impact on OPEC output from unrest and unplanned cutbacks in Iraq and Libya is helping to prop up benchmark Brent crude, which is trading at more than $108 a barrel despite the US shale boom and other non-OPEC supply growth.

“Outages in Libya are lending support to Brent prices,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “I don’t expect a timely recovery in Libya, given all the issues.”

In April, extra barrels from Saudi Arabia and smaller increases from Iraq, Algeria and Libya outweighed reduced supply from Nigeria, Iran and the UAE, the survey found.

Output in March, revised down in this survey, was OPEC’s lowest since December, when the group pumped a 2-1/2-year low of 28.90 million bpd, according to Reuters surveys.

With the exception of February, OPEC production has fallen short of its nominal target of 30 million bpd in every month since October.