Iraq, Kazakhstan to rebalance planned OPEC+ oil cuts

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: OPEC press release
4 May 2024 12:37

OPEC announces holding a meeting with Iraq and Kazakhstan to rebalance overproduction for the rest of the year.

The advertising label of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, shines at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on December 19, 2019. (AP)

Iraq and Kazakhstan will compensate for the overproduction of almost 1 million barrels per day of crude oil since 2024, OPEC announced in a statement.

OPEC held a "constructive workshop" with the two countries and secondary sources on Friday.

The 35th OPEC and non-OPEC, more commonly known as OPEC+, ministerial meeting in June 2023, reiterated the importance of member states adherence to "full conformity, and subscribing to the concept of compensation," the organization explained.

Earlier in April, the organization agreed with overproducing members, such as Iraq and Kazakhstan, to submit their detailed compensation plans to the OPEC Secretariat by the end of the month.

As a result, the organization held a technical worship with the two countries' representatives to share compensation plans for the overproduction of nearly 1 million bpd of oil for the months of January, February, and March of 2024. Iraq and Kazakhstan recorded an average overproduction of 602 thousand bpd and 389 thousand bpd of oil, respectively, in the first quarter of this year.

According to the statement, the plans submitted by the two countries detailed the processes of rebalancing the entire overproduced amount, including possible additional amounts in April, by the end of 2024.

Oil prices up due to Middle East instability

In the April meeting, the OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) suggested maintaining the current oil output quotas, despite increases in oil prices due to instability in West Asia and Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Talking to Rossiya 24 broadcaster, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the Middle East situation's impact on the market is evident, and should be addressed as such. He also revealed some of the details of the meeting to the public.

"We discussed the situation in the market as a whole, the factors that affect the balance of supply and demand in one way or another, including economic growth," Novak said, adding that "these are the triggers that we see today in the Middle East, the tense situation, one way or another, it affects the market."

"We see this today, including the market situation reacting to the price factor. Prices have already risen to $89. Literally today. Therefore, this is a standard situation when the market reacts, including to geopolitical factors."

This official added that the OPEC+ group has verified that the tools and strategies currently in place to stabilize the market are effective.