Oil cartel, Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) crude oil production dipped in November
for the first monthly decline since July as Nigeria and Iraq saw lower shipments,
it was gathered yesterday.
OPEC produced 27.81 million
barrels per day (bpd) of crude last month, a drop of 90,000 bpd compared to
October, the Reuters survey of OPEC sources, consultants, and vessel-tracking
companies showed.
In the three months before
November, OPEC’s oil output was either flat or rising as growing supply from
African members and Iran largely offset lower output elsewhere.
In November, Iran, which is
exempted from the OPEC+ cuts, further increased its output to a five-year high,
according to the Reuters survey.
Oil production from the 10 OPEC
producers part of the OPEC+ pact declined by 130,000 bpd in November from
October, with Saudi Arabia and the other Middle Eastern producers keeping
strong compliance with their announced cuts and extra voluntary reductions, per
the survey.
Early next year, OPEC’s oil
production is expected to further decline after the OPEC+ alliance agreed extra
cuts for the first quarter of 2024.
Overall, the announcements after
last week’s meeting were underwhelming and failed to convince the market that
OPEC+ hasn’t had disagreements over cuts and quotas leading to the meeting, as
became evident from the lack of a group-wide cut.
The OPEC+ group is ready to take
additional measures and deepen the oil production cuts in the first quarter of
2024 to avoid volatility and speculation on the market, Russia’s Deputy Prime
Minister Alexander Novak said earlier this week.
Novak’s comments on Tuesday
follow remarks from Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman,
who told Bloomberg on Monday that the OPEC+ production cuts could extend beyond
March 2024 if the market requires it. The minister also criticized commentators
for failing to understand the output deal.
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