OPEC oil production rises 185,000 Bpd as Iraq continues to overproduce

OPEC crude output rose by 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July compared with June as Saudi Arabia boosted production, Iraq continued to pump well above its quota and Iran increased its supply , the monthly OPEC report showed on Monday.

Total crude output from all 12 OPEC members averaged 26.75 million bpd last month, up 185,000 bpd from June, with production rising in Middle Eastern producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, according to secondary sources of OPEC that the cartel uses to track. exit from individual states.

OPEC crude output was estimated by Reuters monthly poll earlier this month at 26.70 million bpd in July, up 100,000 bpd from June, due to higher supply from Saudi Arabia and small increases from others producers, including Iraq.

Cartel leader Saudi Arabia increased its crude output by 97,000 bpd to 9.015 million bpd, the OPEC report showed. Despite the increase of almost 100,000 barrels per day, the Kingdom is in line with its commitment as part of the OPEC+ agreements and its voluntary cut to produce about 9 million barrels per day until at least the end of September.

Output from Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, rose 57,000 bpd to exceed 4.25 million bpd in July, according to secondary OPEC sources. This is 250,000 bpd higher than Iraq’s commitment to keep production at a ceiling of around 4 million bpd.

Iraq, as well as non-OPEC producers Russia and Kazakhstan, have continuously pledged to rein in and offset previous overproduction by September 2025.

OPEC’s secretariat said last month it had received compensation plans from Iraq, Kazakhstan and Russia for their overproduced volumes from January to June 2024.

Cumulative overproduction in those six months was about 1.184 million bpd for Iraq, 620,000 bpd for Kazakhstan and 480,000 bpd for Russia, OPEC said.

Iraq and Kazakhstan planned to begin offsetting in July with an additional cut of 70,000 bpd from Iraq and 18,000 bpd from Kazakhstan.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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