OPEC to stick to oil production deal in October, Iraq oil minister says
Shafaq News/ Shafaq News/ OPEC and its allies will try to keep oil prices at $70 per barrel in the first quarter of 2022, Iraq's oil minister said, adding the group is expected to stick to its current production accord when it meet in October "if prices remain stable".
Iraq total oil exports, including those of the Kurdistan region in the north of the country, should stand at an average of 3.4 million barrels per day in September, the minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, told a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday.
Earlier, the “OPEC +” countries agreed to continue to abide by the terms of the current deal, including the increase in oil production in October by 400,000 barrels per day.
The “OPEC +” countries (the alliance of OPEC producers, and independent producers led by Russia) have reduced their production by 9.7 million barrels per day, since May of last year; Due to the reduced demand for oil against the background of the Corona virus pandemic.
With the stability of the situation, and since August 2021, the coalition has increased production by 400,000 barrels per day, in the hope of gradually withdrawing from its commitments to reduce production, by the end of September 2022.
As of August, the size of the OPEC + production cut amounted to about 5.36 million barrels per day.
A baseline was taken for all members, in October 2018; As for Russia and Saudi Arabia, it was decided to be 11 million barrels per day.
However, as of May 2022, it was agreed to raise the base for reducing oil production for: Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Kuwait.
For Russia and Saudi Arabia, production will rise by 500 million barrels, to 11.5 million barrels per day.
The group decided, during its last meeting, to raise its production baseline from 43.8 to 45.5 million barrels per day as of May 2022.
As for the Emirates, it was set at 3.5 million barrels per day, and it was raised to Kuwait and Iraq at 150,000 barrels per day, each; As of next May
