Iraq, which has consistently violated its oil production quota under the OPEC+ supply accord, is urging other members to support deepening the group’s output cuts. The current 1.2 million b/d production cut agreement, which runs through March, should be deepened to 1.6 million b/d, oil minister Thamir al-Ghadhban told reporters on arrival in Vienna ahead of the OPEC+ meetings Thursday and Friday.
Merely rolling over the cuts “is not enough to stabilize the market,” Ghadhban said. “There is a proposal to add a further 400,000 b/d, [but] this is not final. This is subject to agreement between OPEC+.” Any deal would require unanimous approval among the 24-country coalition, a consensus that may be difficult to achieve, analysts say.
The OPEC+ coalition’s delegate-level Joint Technical Committee met earlier Tuesday, where only scenarios of an extension at current quota levels were reviewed, a source familiar with the deliberations told S&P Global Platts.
Russia, in particular, has said it sees no need to make any decision at this week’s meetings, preferring to wait until closer to the agreement’s March expiry to announce any changes, if needed. Russia is the main non-OPEC participant in the deal, and OPEC has taken great pains to keep it on board to increase the coalition’s market clout, despite its lackluster quota compliance.