OPEC+ Agrees September Oil Hike

Alsharq Tribune- Hany yousef 

OPEC+ approved an oil production quota increase on Sunday of around 188,000 barrels per day from September, the producer group said, in a move that completes the unwinding of a layer of voluntary output cuts.

The September increase agreed by core ‌OPEC+ ⁠members — Saudi Arabia, Russia, ⁠Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman — finishes the phased rollback of a 1.65 million bpd supply cut originally agreed in 2023, when the group still included the United Arab Emirates, which left OPEC in May.

A separate OPEC+ meeting of a panel called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee also met, OPEC said on Sunday, and reiterated concern about attacks on energy assets during the US-Israeli war on ‌Iran, saying they were expensive and time-consuming to repair and so have an impact on supply.

With September's output hike now ⁠agreed, OPEC+ still ⁠has in place one more layer of output cuts that apply to most of the group's members. Those roughly 2 million bpd in cuts date back to 2022 and are due to remain in place until the end of this year.

OPEC+ is carrying out a review of its members' oil production capacity that will be used for the 2027 output baselines from which quotas are set.

It faces potentially difficult talks over new production quotas, with some members, including Iraq, pushing for higher individual quotas to reflect their higher capacity.

OPEC+ includes 21 members, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries along with Russia and other allies. The seven core members will hold their next meeting on September 6.