OPEC+ Jan compliance with oil cuts reaches 85%

OPEC+ compliance with pledged oil output curbs is averaging 85% so far in January, tanker tracker Petro-Logistics said, suggesting the group had improved its adherence to pledged supply curbs.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to increase output by 500,000 barrels per day in January as part of a plan to taper huge cuts made last year as the coronavirus pandemic hammered demand.

However, the Petro-Logistics figures unexpectedly suggest production is lower, and compliance with cuts higher, than in December. A trend of high compliance could lend further support to oil prices, which are near an 11-month high.

“The biggest reductions in January supply are expected from Libya, Iraq and Nigeria,” Petro-Logistics, a Geneva-based consultant, said in an email to Reuters, referring to trends seen within OPEC.

OPEC’s compliance with pledged supply curbs is close to 100% in January, the company said. That is up from December’s figure of 82% as estimated by Petro-Logistics on Jan. 12.

The January figure for OPEC+ compliance is up from 75% in December, according to the company’s estimates.

Two OPEC sources said last week OPEC+ compliance remained strong in December at 99%, although it fell from November’s 101%.