Indonesia Suspended From OPEC

As if the reports that OPEC managed to reach a deal on production cuts was not news big enough, the organization added another shocker on Wednesday, by suspending Indonesia from OPEC.

The cartel agreed at the ministerial meeting today to suspend Indonesia from the organization, Reuters reports, citing an OPEC source.

Indonesia returned to full-fledged OPEC membership in December last year, after it had suspended its membership in December 2008, when its oil-exporting capabilities had started to wane, OPEC’s website says.

On the eve of OPEC’s meeting today, Indonesia’s energy minister Ignasius Jonan was not as optimistic as other OPEC ministers, and said he was not sure that OPEC would reach a deal.

“I don't know. Let's see. The feeling today is mixed,” Jonan said, as quoted by Reuters.

According to a survey by S&P Global Platts, Indonesia had been pumping steadily around 730,000 bpd in recent months. OPEC’s secondary sources data put Indonesia’s output at 722,000 bpd in October, down from 724,000 bpd in September.

According to a ZeroHedge tweet, which quotes Reuters, OPEC agreed to distribute Indonesia’s oil production share among some OPEC countries.

Indonesia’s suspension would also mean OPEC would have a new output floor, another ZeroHedge tweet says.

Indonesia aside, according to Reuters, the cartel’s de factor leader Saudi Arabia has agreed to cut its production to 10.06 million bpd, that’s around 500,000 bpd from the 10.532 million bpd output it had in October, according to OPEC secondary sources data.

The organization has also agreed to allow Iran to set its production level at 3.797 million bpd, an OPEC source told Reuters. The OPEC October data put Iran’s output at 3.690 million bpd.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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