OPEC+ accelerates oil supply boost plan
Eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) have agreed to collectively increase their supply by 547,000 b/d in September, expediting the group’s plan to boost crude production.
IMAGE: OPEC's logo. Getty Images
The eight OPEC+ members - Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman - met virtually on 3 August to review global market conditions.
The announcement has weighed on Brent crude’s price, despite the move being widely expected, ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.
This is the fifth consecutive time that they plan to expedite the unwinding of their joint 2.2 million b/d output cuts. The eight members announced in July that they would increase their supply by 548,000 b/d this month.
At 547,000 b/d, the planned production increase for September is about four times higher than their original plan to unwind output cuts at a rate of around 137,000 b/d each month between April 2025 and September 2026.
OPEC’s de-facto leader, Saudi Arabia, is now slated to produce around 9.98 million b/d in September. Russia will produce 9.45 million b/d, while Iraq and the UAE will produce about 4.22 million b/d and 3.37 million b/d, respectively, the OPEC secretariat said.
“Better-than-expected demand has provided the opportunity for OPEC to accelerate its unwinding 2.2mb/d of voluntary production cuts,” Hynes said.
The eight countries will meet again on 7 September to decide on October production levels, according to the OPEC statement.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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