NEW YORK: OPEC oil production rose to a 19-month high in March, led by gains in Iraq and Libya.

Production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries climbed 481,000 barrels to 31.029 million a day this month, the most since August 2013, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil companies, producers and analysts.

Prices have dropped 24 percent since OPEC left its production quotas unchanged at a November meeting. The group has chosen to preserve market share in the face of US output that’s grown to the highest level in more than three decades.

“This is going to put more pressure on OPEC,” Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, said by phone. “It’s not helpful to see production up so much, especially when US output has yet to drop.”

Brent for May settlement fell 49 cents to $55.80 a barrel at 11:58 a.m. New York time on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent, the benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, touched $45.19 on Jan. 13, the lowest since March 2009, and has dropped 11 percent this month.

Last month’s OPEC total was revised 20,000 barrels lower to 30.548 million a day because of changes to the Saudi and Libyan estimates.

Iraqi production rose 295,000 barrels a day to 3.745 million this month, according to the survey.