OPEC agrees on a ‘modest’ increase in oil production; failed to give concrete figure

Vienna, June 23: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Friday unanimously agreed on a modest increase in oil production from next month. However, the exact quantity of increase in oil production is not yet decided.

 

OPEC in a statement said that it would raise supply by returning to 100 percent compliance with previously agreed output cuts, but gave no concrete figures. On the other side, Saudi Arabia said that the move would translate into a nominal output rise of around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), or 1 percent of global supply.

While Iraq said the real increase would be around 770,000 bpd because several countries that had suffered production declines would struggle to reach full quotas.

Earlier, Iran walked out of an OPEC peers meeting on Thursday over a rift with its regional-rival Saudi Arabia on increasing the cartel's oil output. Yesterday, the leaders of Saudi Arabia persuaded Iran to cooperate in OPEC meeting and finally the decision of modest increase in oil production was taken.

US, China and India had urged oil producers to release more supply to prevent an oil deficit that could undermine global economic growth. Meanwhile, OPEC and non-OPEC producers will meet on Saturday to iron out details of the pact and then again in September to review the deal. The next formal OPEC meeting was set for December 3.

Interestingly, the 24 nations in the pact, known as OPEC+, initially agreed to trim production by 1.8 million barrels a day but they have actually been keeping more than two million bpd off the market.