OPEC oil output has risen for a seventh month in January, a Reuters survey found, after the group and allies agreed to ease record supply curbs further, although an involuntary drop in Nigerian exports limited the increase.
The 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping 25.75 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, the survey found, up 160,000 bpd from December and a further increase from a three-decade low reached in June.
OPEC+, which groups OPEC and other producers led by Russia, agreed to pump more from Jan. 1 and returns to output restraint again from February amid fears of a slow demand recovery. The latest supply pact has helped oil to an 11-month high above $57 a barrel this year.
“The increase is natural with the higher production ceiling from January,” an OPEC delegate said.
In January, the biggest supply increases came from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the group’s top two producers, reflecting their higher quotas. Iraq is still making almost all of its pledged OPEC+ cuts, having struggled to do so in the past.
OPEC+ agreed to pump an extra 500,000 bpd in January, of which OPEC’s share is about 300,000 bpd, as world demand recovers to an extent from the coronavirus crisis.
The group has delivered just over half that amount, the survey found. As a result, the OPEC producers bound by the deal made 103% of pledged cuts in January, up from 99% in December.
