Storage tanks at the Airankol oilfield in Kazakhstan
OPEC’s realignment
The group is cleansing itself of non-compliers and resetting expectations as it unwinds quicker than expected in a bid to go beyond production quotas
OPEC-9 output rose by 170,000b/d month-on-month in August, to 22.22m b/d, according to Petroleum Economist estimates, while the OPEC+ Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) group’s production increased by 60,000b/d. Since March, OPEC-9 has added 920,000b/d to its supply compared with the target of around 1.45m b/d, which translates into 63% of the objective. The OPEC+ DoC group has lost 130,000b/d of its production. It should have added almost 465,000b/d. Thus, the whole group has been able to reach 41% of their aimed output. This is the reason why prices are stuck in a $60–70/bl range. If the falling prices become politically and economically untenable for key members, a shift back to more
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