Oil prices climb Monday amid growing concerns over low supplies due to lower output from oil producers in the Organization of Petroleum Countries along with unrest in Libya and sanctions imposed on Russian energy exports. However, the price increases are limited due to fears of a global recession.

A barrel of European benchmark crude, Brent, costs USD 111.54 Monday morning against USD 110.52 Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, trades concurrently for USD 108.29 against USD 107.50 Friday afternoon.

The oil market is well bolstered at the moment, says head of commodity research at ING Warren Patterson to Reuters. He notes that OPEC is struggling to meet previously announced output increases.

”The group appears to be battling to maintain current output levels, with production falling over June,” he remarks.

In June, OPEC’s daily output decreased by 100,00 barrels to a total of 28.52 million barrels per days, according to figures compiled by Reuters – despite stated intentions of raising output by 275,000 barrels per day.

Total production is weighed down by contributions from Nigeria and Libya despite increased output from Saudi Arabia and other major OPEC member nations.

Production in Libya is further hampered by political unrest, which limits OPEC’s options for following through with the intended output increase, write analysts of ANZ Research, according to Reuters.

Due to the turmoil, oil exports from Libya have fallen by up to 409,000 barrels per day to 865,000 barrels per day compared to the usual level, according to state-run National Oil Corp.

In Norway, an announced strike could affect oil and gas production and potentially result in a drop of 130,000 barrels per day.

Exxon expects billion-dollar earnings boost from increased energy prices

Crude oil buckles as recession angst rattles commodity investors