Page 7 - NorthAmOil Week 22 2022

NorthAmOil POLICY NorthAmOil

OPEC+ speeds up production

uptick amid Russia concerns

GLOBAL OPEC and its partners in the OPEC+ group She added: “We recognise the role of Saudi
this week agreed to add more oil to the market Arabia as the chair of OPEC+ and its largest
as concerns about the future of the deal persist. producer in achieving this consensus amongst
On June 2, the group announced that it would the group members. We also recognise efforts
“advance the planned overall production adjust- and positive contributions of UAE, Kuwait and
ment for the month of September and redis- Iraq.”
tribute equally the 432,000 barrel per day [bpd] Meanwhile, there was little to indicate, as The new timeline
production increase over the months of July and had been widely suggested, that members were
August 2022”. considering expelling Russia from the alliance. for easing
In doing so, OPEC+ production quotas will Ahead of the OPEC+ meeting, Russian For-
rise by 648,000 bpd in both July and August, eign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Saudi Ara- production has
thereby unwinding the remainder of the 10mn bia, where both men praised the importance of
bpd withheld from the market since April co-operation, according to his ministry, signal- been warmly
2020. Meanwhile, ministers also agreed to give ling that the kingdom may not be in favour of received by the
countries that have previously been guilty of pushing Russia out of the alliance.
over-producing their quotas until December to “They noted the stabilising effect that the US.
compensate for their overproduction. tight co-operation between Russia and Saudi
Meanwhile, the OPEC+ collaboration has Arabia has on world markets for hydrocarbons
been extended from September until the end of in this strategically important sector,” the minis-
the year, giving them time to decide on the sub- try said in a statement on its website.
sequent plan of action. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the
The new timeline for easing production has matter.
been warmly received by the US. Following the Beijing has not signalled anything of the sort,
announcement, White House Press Secretary and nor have there been any reports of such, but
Karine Jean-Pierre said: “The United States China also has some interest in seeing OPEC+
welcomes the important decision from OPEC+ release the oil taps, given that it is, after all, the
today to increase supply by more than 200,000 world’s biggest oil importer. However, the Chi-
barrels per day in July and August based on new nese government must balance this with its
market conditions.” political interest in ensuring stability in Russia.™

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