A halt in Libya’s oil production and improved compliance from OPEC’s second-largest producer Iraq pushed the total output of the OPEC+ group down by around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September, according to the Platts OPEC+ survey from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The OPEC+ alliance collectively pumped 40.23 million bpd last month, down by 500,000 bpd from August, according to the survey, which also showed that the oil production from the OPEC+ producers with quotas under the agreement still exceeded the collective target, albeit to a lesser extent.
The producers with output ceilings were still producing 232,000 bpd over their total quota last month, compared to 327,000 bpd of excess output above quota for August, according to Platts’s estimates.
The political standoff that halted Libya’s production in September and the reduced supply from Iraq, the biggest overproducer in the OPEC+ deal, were the key drivers of the lower OPEC+ oil output last month.
Iraq has been promising to improve compliance with the OPEC+ agreement, and the most recent data suggests that its oil supply is falling, although it is still above its quota.
Iraq, Russia, and Kazakhstan have pledged to compensate for previous overproduction with additional cuts later this year and in 2025.
Iraq was still producing 90,000 above its quota in September, according to the monthly Reuters survey of production from OPEC only.
OPEC’s September oil production fell to its lowest point this year, the poll found. At 26.14 million bpd, OPEC output was nearly 400,000 bpd lower compared to the previous month, primarily due to disruptions in Libya.
Libya, which is exempted from the OPEC+ cuts due to political instability often resulting in oil production and port blockades, had most of its output halted for the whole month of September. That was due to a row about the leadership of the Central Bank of Libya, the only internationally recognized depository of Libya’s oil revenues.
Libya’s production resumed in early October and is now close to reaching pre-crisis levels.