IEA assesses completion of OPEC+ deal in September

MOSCOW, 13 Oct – PRIME. OPEC+ countries in September produced 3.44 million barrels of oil per day less than allowed by the alliance’s oil deal, according to experts from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

According to the agency’s calculations, the countries of the alliance, which have obligations to control production under the OPEC + deal, produced 38.76 million barrels per day of oil in September against 38.73 million barrels per day in August. This is 3.44 million barrels per day less than the level allowed for September under the OPEC+ deal, the IEA believes.

In general, all OPEC+ countries increased oil production in September by 90 thousand barrels per day, up to 44.78 million barrels per day. The main increase was in Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier, OPEC countries and the OPEC+ alliance excluded IEA data from their calculations, replacing them with information from Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy analytical companies. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak explained that this was due to the bias of the agency, whose certain attitudes can be traced in statements on the analysis of the energy market.

OPEC+ cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day in May 2020 due to a drop in oil demand caused by the pandemic. Then the terms of the agreement were repeatedly adjusted. In August of this year, the alliance entered the final stage of exiting its cuts. Under the terms for September, OPEC + increased production by 100,000 barrels per day, and in October it will reduce it by the same volume. Since November, OPEC+ has decided to cut production by 2 million barrels per day from the target level in August.

At the same time, a number of OPEC+ countries, due to a natural decline in production, technical issues or external restrictions, cannot increase production to the level allowed to them.