MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. OPEC countries (except Iran, Libya, and Venezuela) participating in the OPEC+ deal increased oil production by 68,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February 2024 to 21.436 mln bpd, mainly due to increased production in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, according to the March OPEC report.

From 2024, new production targets are used as part of the OPEC+ deal. Taking into account all changes, including the revision of quotas for Congo and Nigeria, as well as Angola’s withdrawal from OPEC, the updated quota for the nine OPEC countries participating in the OPEC+ deal is 23.835 mln bpd. In February, the real production volume of these countries amounted to 21.436 mln bpd, which is 2.399 mln bpd below the level stipulated by the OPEC+ agreement.

However, the parameters of the OPEC+ deal do not take into account voluntary production cuts, which are followed by a several alliance countries, including some OPEC countries. The total volume of these cuts reaches 1.66 mln bpd. In addition, Saudi Arabia is further reducing production by another 1 mln bpd from July 2023 to June 2024, while Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Algeria are voluntarily reducing production by a total of almost 600,000 bpd in the Q1 and Q2.

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 February, Venezuela’s oil output increased by 16,000 bpd to 820,000 bpd, Libya’s - by 144,000 bpd to 1.167 mln bpd, while Iran decreased production by 15,000 bpd to 3.148 mln bpd.

In general, all 12 OPEC countries increased oil production in January by 203,000 bpd to 26.571 mln bpd. Libya had the largest increase in production (+144,000 bpd) and among the countries participating in the OPEC+ deal, Nigeria (+ 47,000 bpd) and Saudi Arabia (+18,000 bpd) increased production the most.