Iraq rejects further OPEC+ oil output cuts

Shafaq News / The Iraqi Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul Ghani stated, on Saturday, that Iraq has implemented sufficient voluntary reductions in crude oil production and will not agree to any further cuts proposed by OPEC+ at its upcoming meeting scheduled for June 1st.

Sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia, and other non-OPEC producers, could extend some voluntary output cuts should demand fail to pick up.

Asked by a reporter whether Iraq would agree to extend the OPEC+ voluntary cuts at the meeting scheduled for June 1, Hayan Abdul Ghani said: "Iraq has reduced (output) enough and will not agree to any new cut."

It was not immediately clear if Abdul Ghani meant he opposed an extension of the voluntary cuts - a statement that would fly in the face of widespread expectations that cuts would be rolled over - or was simply against any additional cuts.

He was speaking on the sidelines of an oil and gas licensing conference in Baghdad.

Iraq has repeatedly said it is committed to voluntary cuts initially announced by OPEC+ in 2023 but pumped over its output quota by a cumulative 602,000 barrels per day in the first three months of 2024, OPEC+ said in a statement on Friday.

The group said that Baghdad had agreed to compensate with additional production cuts over the rest of the year.

Iraq aims to increase its oil reserves to 160 billion barrels, with the launch of the fifth and sixth licensing rounds. There is optimism about resolving the issue of gas imports by local production over the next five years, according to officials and economic analysts.

Iraq currently produces over 4.5 million barrels of oil per day, with oil exports accounting for over 94% of the country's GDP. However, Iraq ranks as the second-largest gas flarer globally after Russia, with estimated annual losses of around $6 billion.

This Saturday morning, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani launched the licenses for the fifth supplementary round and the full sixth round, comprising a total of 29 projects for oil and gas exploration fields and blocks, distributed across 12 governorates.

It is expected that these licensing rounds will add two million barrels of oil to the national production, as stated by Minister Abdul Ghani.