OPEC+ expedites 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 548,000 b/d in August, accelerating 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 5 July to review global market conditions. The meeting, originally scheduled for 6 July, was moved forward by a day.
This is the fourth consecutive time that they plan to expedite the unwinding of their joint 2.2 million b/d output cuts. The eight members announced in June that they would increase their supply by 411,000 b/d in July.
At 548,000 b/d, the planned production increase for August is 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.
The coalition attributed this decision to "a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals”.
OPEC’s de-facto leader, Saudi Arabia, is now slated to produce 9.76 million b/d in August. Russia will produce 9.34 million b/d, while Iraq and the UAE will produce about 4.17 million b/d and 3.27 million b/d respectively, the OPEC secretariat said.
“They [the eight countries] also confirmed their intention to fully compensate for any overproduced volume since January 2024”, the group said. They will hold monthly meetings to review market conditions.
The eight countries will meet again on 3 August to decide on September production levels, according to the OPEC statement.
By Shilpa Sharma
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