© Reuters. The OPEC logo on its headquarters in Vienna – Photo from Reuters archive.
From Arif Muhammad
Basra (Iraq) (Reuters) – Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said that his country does not expect the OPEC + coalition to agree to a new reduction in oil production during its meeting next month, in the first indication from an OPEC minister about the possible decision during the meeting in light of the decline.
“In the next meeting that will be held on the third and fourth days (of June), there will be no additional reduction, and we, with regard to Iraq, cannot reduce,” Abdul-Ghani said in his first interview with a foreign media since he took office last year.
He said in a later statement that Iraq was committed to voluntary cuts in oil production that began in May and will continue until the end of 2023, and indicated that Iraq had not been asked to make any other such cut before the OPEC + meeting on the fourth of June.
The OPEC+ alliance, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and other allies including Russia, agreed to cut production in late 2022 to support the market as the economic outlook worsened, weighing on prices.
In a surprise move in early April, it and other members of the OPEC + alliance announced a new cut in oil production by about 1.2 million barrels per day.
This helped oil prices to rise sharply, but these gains were erased by fears of a global economic slowdown.
Brent crude futures were at 75.25 a barrel by 1710 GMT, amid expectations that oil will end the week unchanged after a three-week decline.
OPEC+ member states are scheduled to meet in Vienna on June 4 to determine their future steps.
“The second reduction was voluntary and with the agreement of the parties that contributed to this reduction. It helped us greatly in stabilizing the market and raising prices,” Abdel-Ghani said.
And the cause of the production cut in April hurt the oil bears.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdullah bin Salman had warned traders in 2020 against excessive betting on oil prices and promised speculators that they would be severely affected.
Iraq said it would cut 211,000 bpd starting in May as part of the voluntary cuts.
Turkey stopped 450,000 barrels per day of its northern exports through the Iraqi pipeline (TADAWUL:) on March 25, after an arbitration decision ordered Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to Baghdad for unauthorized exports from the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.
It was not clear when the flows would resume, but Abdul-Ghani said on Friday that Baghdad had not received anything new about a request by the Turkish state energy company to resume exports.
(Reporting by Aref Mohamed – Prepared by Mohamed Harfush and Mohamed Attia for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Yasmine Hussein)
