To boost confidence in oil cut, OPEC issues quota list
OPEC on Friday published a list of oil production cuts by its members and other major producers for the six months to June, an effort to boost confidence in the move designed to avoid a supply glut in 2019.
In a statement, an OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial panel also called on participating members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies to “redouble their efforts in the full and timely implementation” of the move.
Worried by falling prices and rising supply, the producer group known as OPEC+ agreed in December to return to output cuts. They pledged to lower supply by about 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1 2019, of which OPEC’s share is 800,000 bpd.
The move to make the quotas public reflects an effort by the producers to increase credibility of the deal. OPEC had initially given few details on how it would work and sources had said quotas would not be released.
“The oil industry cannot afford to relapse into another downturn,” OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo, who had been urging that the list be issued, told Reuters on Thursday.
The statement said the panel, called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), will study the production cuts each month and confirmed that it will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan on March 18.
In the first half of 2019, OPEC and its allies will cut oil output by 1.195 million bpd to 43.874 million bpd. The full OPEC+ group will meet on April 17-18 in Vienna to decide whether to extend the agreement beyond June.
The list of quotas is the same as one seen by Reuters and other news services in December and is as listed below.
Adjustment based on the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference and the 5th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, effective as of January 2019, in thousands of barrels per day:
Reference Voluntary
production* adjustment production level
Algeria 1,057 -32 1,025
Angola 1,528 -47 1,481
Congo 325 -10 315
Ecuador 524 -16 508
Eq. Guinea 127 -4 123
Gabon 187 -6 181
Iraq 4,653 -141 4,512
Kuwait 2,809 -85 2,724
Nigeria 1,738 -53 1,685
Saudi Arabia 10,633 -322 10,331
UAE 3,168 -96 3,072
Azerbaijan 796 -20 776
Bahrain 227 -5 222
Brunei 131 -3 128
Kazakhstan 1,900 -40 1,860
Malaysia 627 -15 612
Mexico 2,017 -40 1,977
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Oman 995 -25 970
Russia 11,421 -230 11,191
Sudan 74 -2 72
South Sudan 132 -3 129
Total OPEC 26,749 -812 25,937
SOURCE: Reuters