The OPEC+ group of producers complied at 103 percent with the oil output cuts in January, higher than the estimated compliance in December, Argus reports, citing three delegates from the alliance.
In December 2020, the OPEC+ coalition saw its overall compliance with the original production adjustments at 101 percent, OPEC said at the end of the February monthly meeting of the OPEC+ panels. This compliance level is "reinforcing the trend of high compliance by Participating Countries," OPEC said.
According to Argus' sources, in January 2021, the ten OPEC members bound by the pact achieved 108-percent compliance, while the non-OPEC group of producers, led by Russia, complied with the cuts at 95 percent, up from 93 percent in December.
The OPEC+ panels estimate compliance rates by averaging the production estimates of six independent secondary sources, including Argus.
Argus itself pegs the January compliance of OPEC+ at 104 percent, including 110 percent from the ten OPEC members and a 95-percent compliance rate for non-OPEC producers.
The biggest producer in the non-OPEC group, Russia, is aiming for 100 percent compliance, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said at the beginning of February. Russia was just one of two members of the OPEC+ group, alongside Kazakhstan, which was allowed to raise its oil production - by 65,000 bpd each in February and March - while all the others are set to keep output flat and Saudi Arabia is cutting 1 million bpd beyond its quota this month and next.
The compliance figures will be reviewed by the OPEC+ panels next week, before the monthly meeting of the group's ministers, expected to decide how the group will proceed with the supply management from April onwards.
The leaders of the OPEC+ alliance, Saudi Arabia and Russia, are reportedly once again at odds over oil production policies, especially in light of the oil price rally so far this year.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More