OPEC+ countries exceed oil production plan by 510,000 bpd in April, including voluntary cuts - IEA

Moscow. May 15 (Interfax) - OPEC+ countries produced 34.48 million bpd of oil in April inclusive of voluntary cuts by some alliance members, versus the 33.97 million bpd they were supposed to extract under the terms of the agreement, analysts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

Thus, the excess to plan last month totaled 510,000 bpd. Countries in the bloc reduced oil production 170,000 bpd compared to March.

Production in OPEC countries participating in the agreement totaled 21.62 million bpd in April, which is 0.4 million bpd above plan. Non-OPEC countries last month produced 120,000 bpd above the permitted level of 14.46 million bpd (or 12.86 million bpd excluding Mexico).

The IEA said that the largest contributor to the reduction in oil production by the alliance in April was Russia, which partially fulfilled the promised production reduction of 150,000 bpd (with a plan of 350,000 bpd), to 9.3 million bpd. Production in Iraq decreased 20,000 bpd to 4.24 million bpd, and dropped 30,000 bpd in Kazakhstan to 1.59 million bpd. However, current production levels are significantly higher than those set by OPEC+ (including voluntary cuts).

OPEC+ countries intend to hold a meeting on June 1 to assess current policies, the IEA said. IEA analysts see the need for the alliance to increase production in the second half of the year by 670,000 bpd compared to the April level to 42.1 million bpd. The latter figure includes Mexico, Iran, Libya and Venezuela, whose volumes are outside the scope of the OPEC+ deal.