OPEC+ to reduce voluntary production cuts starting October

Shafaq News/ The main members of OPEC+ will start reducing their voluntary production cuts in October, following a complex agreement announced on Sunday that extends most of the current quotas until the end of 2025. The alliance aims to regain market share without disrupting oil prices.

Iraq and seven other nations have implemented around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of voluntary cuts, initially set to end in June. These cuts will now remain until September before being gradually reduced by about 180,000 bpd each month until September 2025, the group said after an OPEC+ ministers' meeting.

A separate set of production cuts, totaling approximately 3.7 million bpd and introduced in stages since October 2022, will now be extended until the end of 2025. This is a year beyond the originally scheduled expiration at the end of 2024.

The United Arab Emirates, however, was granted a quota increase of 300,000 bpd, to be phased in starting January.

OPEC+ also agreed to delay the baseline review until 2025, with secondary sources required to provide capacity estimates by November to influence production quotas for 2026.

The previous baseline review in 2023 focused on low-production African members, resulting in severe quota cuts that led Angola to withdraw from the group after 19 years of membership.

For Iraq, the voluntary cuts to be lifted in 2024 will be as follows: 4 million bpd in September, 4.18 million bpd in October, 4.37 million bpd in November, and 4.55 million bpd in December.

In 2025, Iraq's production will be 4.73 million bpd in January, 4.92 million bpd in February, 4.11 million bpd in March, 4.128 million bpd in April, 4.147 million bpd in May, 4.165 million bpd in June, 4.183 million bpd in July; 4.202 million bpd in August; 4.220 million bpd in September; and 4.220 million bpd in the last three months of the year.