OPEC oil output falls in March

According to Reuters, OPEC oil output declined in March 2024, reflecting lower exports from Iraq and Nigeria against a backdrop of ongoing voluntary supply cuts by some members agreed with the wider OPEC Plus alliance.

OPEC Plus is scheduled to hold an online joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting on April 03 to review the market and members' implementation of output cuts they have already agreed to extend. However, the panel is unlikely to recommend any oil output policy changes.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 26.42 million barrels per day (bpd) in March 2024, down 50,000 bpd from February 2024, based on shipping data and information from industry sources.

Several members of OPEC Plus, which includes OPEC, Russia and other allies, made new cuts in January 2024 to counter economic weakness and increased supply outside the group. Producers agreed last month to keep them in place until the end of June.

An OPEC Plus panel of key ministers meets on Wednesday to review the market and members' production, and is not expected to recommend any policy changes ahead of the group's next full meeting set for June 01, 2024.

The biggest output reductions in March came from Iraq and Nigeria. Iraq promised to lower exports to make up for pumping above its OPEC target, a pledge that would cut shipments by 130,000 bpd from February.

OPEC fell about 190,000 bpd short of its targeted cuts in March, largely because of Iraq, Nigeria and Gabon pumping more than they had aimed for.

Gulf producers Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each kept output close to their voluntary targets, as did Algeria.

Output in Iran, exempt from quotas, edged lower. Iran is still pumping near a five-year high reached in November after posting one of OPEC's biggest output increases in 2023 despite US sanctions still in place.

There was no significant rise in output from any OPEC country. Libya, also exempt from quotas, pumped an extra 20,000 bpd as the country's output returned to normal after disruption in February.

Reuters aims to track supply to the market and is based on shipping data provided by external sources, LSEG flows data, information from companies that track flows - such as Petro-Logistics and Kpler - and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.