BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 13. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), OPEC+ crude supply rose by 310,000 barrels per day (kb/d) in November, reaching 41.4 million barrels per day (mb/d), Trend reports.
This increase was mainly driven by the return of Libyan volumes to the market, the agency noted. However, Kazakhstan saw mixed results, with the Kashagan field returning after maintenance, but over a quarter of Tengiz production impacted by unplanned maintenance.
OPEC’s crude supply rose to 27.2 mb/d, up by 180 kb/d month-on-month, led by gains in Libya and Iran. However, the increase was somewhat offset by a reduction in Venezuelan production due to damage at a crude upgrader in Eastern Monagas. Among the OPEC members bound by the November 2022 agreement, production declined by 40 kb/d to 21.7 mb/d, largely due to Iraq scaling back its output.
The 18 OPEC+ members subject to quotas pumped 34.4 mb/d of crude in November, 680 kb/d above their implied target, with Kazakhstan contributing the most to this increase. At the bi-annual OPEC+ Ministerial Meeting in early December, the group reaffirmed its commitment to limiting supply and stabilizing the market. The alliance confirmed that it will maintain current supply cuts through the end of the first quarter of 2025, with plans to gradually restore production through September 2026.
Under the revised phase-out schedule, Saudi Arabia is expected to increase output more quickly than Russia, gradually adding more supply to the market after more than two years of restraint. The UAE’s promised 300 kb/d increase will also be delayed by three months and phased in more gradually than initially planned.
The new targets for OPEC+ members subject to quotas will be more than 1.2 mb/d lower by the end of 2025 compared to previous forecasts. Additionally, the deadline for third-party consultants to complete assessments of each country's production capacity has been postponed by about 18 months, delaying the setting of new production baselines and quotas until 2027.