OPEC+ Is Still Producing Too Much Oil

OPEC further restricted its oil production in June compared to May as it aims to withhold a record volume of supply from the market together with its non-OPEC allies led by Russia, according to tanker-tracking company Petro-Logistics.

However, the cartel still produced more than its collective quota.

OPEC has reduced its collective oil production in June by 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) compared to May, Petro-Logistics told Reuters in an email.

In May, OPEC’s crude oil production stood at 24.19 million bpd, down by 6.3 million bpd from April, as per OPEC’s secondary sources in the latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR).     

Saudi Arabia slashed in May its production to the required 8.5 million bpd quota. The key Saudi partners in the Gulf, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also cut production to the required levels, whereas Iraq, while cutting production by 340,000 bpd to 4.165 million bpd, was still way off the mark.  

According to Petro-Logistics’ estimates, OPEC made efforts in June to further reduce production, including from laggards such as Iraq and Nigeria, who were scolded by the leaders of the OPEC+ coalition for loose compliance in May. Nevertheless, the OPEC members bound by the pact were still off-target for full compliance.

“Excluding Iran, Libya and Venezuela, which are not part of the curtailment agreement, OPEC-10 supply remains about 1.55 million bpd away from full compliance,” Petro-Logistics told Reuters.

Related:

“Iraq, Nigeria and Kuwait are the main countries that have lowered their supply since May, with more limited cuts by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Angola,” Petro-Logistics said.  

OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, which is also the least compliant member of OPEC+, is said to have made significant cuts in its crude oil exports in June, suggesting that it is improving its compliance with the record production cuts.   

The OPEC+ group has achieved a compliance rate of 87 percent and vowed to reach 100-percent compliance by demanding “compensation schedules” from the laggards to offset their over-production with deeper cuts in Q3. 

Source: Oil Price

Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE.