OPEC agrees to raise crude oil production level

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Friday said the group has agreed to bring down the compliance level to the production-cut agreement to 100 percent, from the over-commitment of nearly 150 percent that the group has shown in the past.

OPEC member countries exceeded the required level of conformity that had reached 152 percent in May 2018, the OPEC said in a statement after its 174th meeting in Vienna today.

The reduction in compliance effectively will allow OPEC to boost production.

“A collective (output reduction) level of 1.2 million is something that is good for us,” Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, OPEC President and the UAE Energy Minister, said at the press conference following the meeting.

Al Mazrouei, however, did not specify the quantity that the cartel would be looking to add to supply.

“We did not mention a number,” the UAE minister said in response to a question on the additional supply that the member countries were considering.

OPEC has also not decided on how the increase in production would be spread across member countries, Al Mazrouei said.

He added that the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which is responsible for overseeing the OPEC+ output deal, has noted that there is a difference of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in terms of compliance.

A meeting of OPEC and it non-member allies is scheduled for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, oil prices rallied as the OPEC meeting continued in Vienna. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was last up nearly 2 percent at $74.54 per barrel on Friday.

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com