OPEC said Wednesday that new projects in Russia were set to drive oil production by countries outside the exporters› cartel slightly higher next year than first expected. In its monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said non-members were due to produce 56.54 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2017. This means production outside the cartel is expected to jump by 240,000 barrels per day next year compared to this year, a slightly higher revision of its initial forecast. OPEC said it was "mainly due to new projects coming on stream in Russia". In Istanbul, meanwhile, OPEC has issued an invitation to Russia and other key non-members of the oil organization to attend a meeting later this month aimed at rebalancing crude prices after historic lows, the Qatari energy minister said on Wednesday. "We agreed to have a technical meeting of OPEC... on 28-29 of this month (October). An invitation is going to be sent to some key non-OPEC countries," Qatar Energy Minister Mohammed Saleh Al-Sada said after a meeting in Istanbul of several OPEC members with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. For 2016, however, non-OPEC producers are set to pump a little less than first thought because of lower production in Canada, the United States, Argentina, Britain and Russia earlier in the year. "Non-OPEC supply contraction estimated for 2016 will change to growth in 2017 for several reasons -- lower declines in OECD Americas and China as well as higher growth in Latin America, Africa and FSU (ex-Soviet Union)," it said. Non-OPEC output has helped feed a massive global supply glut that has led to a dramatic fall in oil prices since 2014, severely hurting producers. Prices have recovered since OPEC said last month it had agreed to cut its supply by up to 750,000 barrels per day to between 32.5 and 33 million barrels per day. Details of how to implement the agreement are due to be hammered out at its November 30 meeting in Vienna. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that his country, which is not part of the cartel, was ready to align with OPEC›s push to limit oil output. The statement helped push oil prices to their highest level in several months.
