SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 25 April 2024, Thursday |

Iraq: OPEC members committed to agreed production rates

Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani stressed OPEC members are committed to the agreed production rates until the end of 2023, a ministry statement said on Saturday.

 

Abdel-Ghani made these remarks during a ministerial meeting of the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) via video conference.

 

OPEC+ members are expected to hold a virtual meeting that would conduct “a review of developments in the oil market and challenges facing producers, and an emphasis on the decisions of OPEC+ regarding reducing production to the prescribed quantities, to achieve more stability and balance for the market,” added the minister.

 

OPEC+ will likely stick to its oil output targets when it meets on Sunday, five OPEC+ sources said on Saturday, a day after the Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed a price cap on Russian oil.

 

Many analysts and OPEC ministers have said the price cap was confusing and probably inefficient as Moscow has been selling most of its oil to countries like China and India, which have refused to condemn the war in Ukraine.

 

OPEC virtually met on Saturday without allies such as Russia and discussed mostly administrative matters, sources said. The ministers did not discuss the Russian price cap.

 

Five OPEC+ delegates said on Saturday the OPEC+ meeting on Sunday would likely approve a policy rollover.

 

On Friday, two separate OPEC+ sources said a further output cut was not entirely off the table given concern about economic growth and demand.

    Source:
  • Asharq Al-Awsat