by Alex Lawler
LONDON (Reuters) – Crude oil output from OPEC nations rose in December, a Reuters survey released on Wednesday showed, although the cartel has colluded with its OPEC+ allies, particularly Russia, to reduce its production in order to support prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries extracted 29 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, up 120,000 bpd from November, according to the Reuters survey.
This increase is explained in particular by a recovery in production in Nigeria (increased in one month from 1.18 to 1.35 million bpd), while the country had been facing for months theft of crude and problems of ‘insecure.
After supporting the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, OPEC+ brought this policy to a screeching halt in November, setting itself the target of a production cut of two million bpd, the largest since early 2020.
The ten OPEC countries were to contribute 1.27 million bpd to this quota, a target they once again missed in December, by 780,000 bpd, according to the survey.
Apart from Nigeria – which is now setting a target of 1.6 million bpd in the first quarter -, and to a lesser extent Angola, which have increased their production, certain countries such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have maintained theirs, while Saudi Arabia and Iraq reduced it slightly.
Of the three countries exempt from production cuts – Iran, Libya and Venezuela – only the South American producer appears to have cut exports, according to Reuters.
The investigation is based on maritime data provided by external sources, data from Refinitiv Eikon, oil tanker tracking sites and information within companies in the sector and OPEC.
(Written by Alex Lawler, with contributions by Ahmad Ghaddar, French version Tangi Salaün, editing by Kate Entringer)
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