Political instability, sanctions, hurricanes and the coronavirus pandemic intersected and sent oil production outages soaring this year, new federal data show.

Production outages

Disruptions to crude oil and condensate production were up among members of both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries through September, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday.

“These outages have contributed to reduced liquid fuel supply and, along with crude oil production declines agreed to among OPEC and partner countries (OPEC-plus), have contributed to global liquid fuels inventory draws since June,” EIA said.  

Through the first nine months of 2020, monthly oil supply disruptions averaged 4.6 million b/d and peaked at 5.2 million b/d in...