OPEC+ oil production plan in Dec unchanged from Nov, Russia can increase slightly

MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax) - The oil production plan for OPEC+ countries, taking into account quotas, voluntary reductions and compensation for insufficiently reduced output, is 35.45 million barrels per day in December, unchanged from November, Interfax calculations showed.

In addition to the quotas for all participating countries, eight OPEC+ countries have been voluntarily reducing production since last year, in two stages. One of the cuts, by 2.2 million bpd, was supposed to be phased out gradually starting October 1 by 180,000-200,000 bpd per month, but in early September the countries decided to put off increasing output for another two months, and then until the end of December.

In addition, there is a compensation schedule for countries that exceeded their agreed production levels in the first half of 2024 - Iraq, Kazakhstan and Russia. All three countries did not meet targets in the previous months either, but they have not yet presented revised compensation schedules.

Iraq is supposed reduce oil production by 110,000 bpd in addition to its quota in December, compared to 100,000 bpd in November, and Kazakhstan is supposed to increase compensation to 54,000 bpd in December from 32,000 bpd in November. Russia, however, does not need to compensate, whereas in November it had to compensate by 30,000 bpd for previously insufficiently reducing output. This is due to weather conditions in Russia.