OPEC production estimates from a couple of surveys are in and they suggest the cartel, despite its best efforts, has not been completely successful in its efforts to drive prices higher. Instead, it kept its production relatively stable last month, which has acted as a cap on international prices. Reuters and Bloomberg both reported OPEC production figures for March yesterday, with both figures suggesting a relatively stable rate. The Reuters survey estimated a 90,000-bpd decline in overall production across the organization, with Venezuela and Iran, as usual, the ones that drove the total down, helped by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners, who continued cutting production under their OPEC+ deal obligations. The Reuters survey pegged the average daily for March at 30.23 million barrels. Bloomberg’s survey of data yielded a pretty close figure for the March total, at 30.3 million bpd, although it estimated this was 25,000 bpd higher […]