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OPEC countries within OPEC+ deal increase oil output by 79,000 bpd in December

The OPEC+ deal's limits do not account for voluntary production cutbacks, which a number of OPEC+ countries, including several OPEC members, intend to implement from May 2023 to the end of 2024

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. OPEC countries (except Iran, Libya, and Venezuela) participating in the OPEC+ deal increased oil production by 79,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December 2023 to 21.594 mln bpd, mainly due to increased production in Nigeria and Iraq, according to the January OPEC report.

The December figure excludes Angola, which has previously declared its exit from OPEC. As a result, OPEC+ now includes nine OPEC countries rather than ten. As part of the OPEC+ agreement, the nine OPEC countries' goal production level for October 2022 reaches 23.961 mln bpd. In December, these countries' actual production volume was 21.594 mln bpd, which is 2.367 mln bpd below the OPEC+ agreement's target.

However, the OPEC+ deal's limits do not account for voluntary production cutbacks, which a number of OPEC+ countries, including several OPEC members, intend to implement from May 2023 to the end of 2024. The combined volume of these reduction amounts to 1.66 mln bpd. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia will reduce production by an additional 1 mln bpd from July until the end of the Q1 of 2024, while Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Algeria will voluntarily lower output by a total of 572,000 bpd in the Q1.

Nine of the 12 OPEC members participate in the OPEC+ agreement to reduce oil production, since Iran, Libya, and Venezuela are exempt from restrictions. In December, oil production in Venezuela increased by 7,000 bpd to 786,000 bpd, Libya - by 3,000 bpd to 1.177 mln bpd, and Iran - by 11,000 bpd to 3.143 mln bpd.

In general, all 12 OPEC countries increased oil production in December by 73,000 bpd to 26.7 mln bpd, mainly due to increased production in Nigeria (+100,000 bpd) and Iraq (+23,000 bpd).

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