OPEC’s Oil Output Jumps by 185,000 Bpd as Iraq Continues to Overproduce

OPEC’s crude oil production jumped by 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July compared to June as top producer Saudi Arabia boosted output, Iraq continued to pump well above its quota, and Iran also raised supply, the monthly OPEC report showed on Monday.

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

OPEC’s crude oil output was estimated by the Reuters monthly survey early this month at 26.70 million bpd in July, up by 100,000 bpd from June, due to higher Saudi supply and small increases from other producers, including Iraq.  

Saudi Arabia, the leader of the cartel, hiked its crude oil production by 97,000 bpd to 9.015 million bpd, OPEC’s report showed. Despite the nearly 100,000-bpd increase, the Kingdom is in line with its pledge as part of the OPEC+ agreements and its voluntary cut to produce around 9 million bpd at least until the end of September.

Output in Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, rose by 57,000 bpd and topped 4.25 million bpd in July, per OPEC’s secondary sources. That’s 250,000 bpd higher compared to Iraq’s pledge to keep output capped at around 4 million bpd.

Iraq, as well as non-OPEC producers Russia and Kazakhstan, has continuously vowed it would fall in line and compensate for previous overproduction by September 2025.

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

The cumulative overproduction in these 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 compensating 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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