OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, is committed to its voluntary cut in the OPEC+ agreement and will produce no more than 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, Iraq’s Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said on Monday.
Iraq, which pumped 4.292 million bpd in December, per OPEC’s secondary sources, is one of several OPEC+ producers who pledged at the end of November to make voluntary cuts to their crude oil production in the first quarter of 2024. Iraq announced a production cut of 223,000 bpd between January 1 and March 31, 2024.
“Afterwards, in order to support market stability, these voluntary cuts will be returned gradually subject to market conditions,” OPEC said at the time, commenting on the voluntary cuts which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman also announced.
Currently, Iraq’s crude oil exports are in the range between 3.35 million bpd and 3.4 million bpd, Reuters quoted the Iraqi minister Abdel-Ghani as telling reporters today.
The minister also commented on the nearly year-long halt to crude exports from northern Iraq and its semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and when these exports could be expected to resume.
“Resumption of exports from the Kurdistan region is linked to the resumption of production from the fields in the region. Talks with the companies operating in the region are on their way to reach a resolution in the near future,” Abdel-Ghani said, as carried by Reuters.
At the end of last month, the international oil companies operating in Kurdistan called on the U.S. Congress for immediate action to help resolve halted crude oil exports from the semi-autonomous region.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) has written a letter to Congress in which it says that it “remains committed to the Kurdistan Region and urges the U.S. Congress to support efforts to resume full oil production and exports, essential for regional economic stability and security.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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