Iraq and Russia raise production deal questions

摘要

Iraq appears to be increasing its resistance to restraining output under the agreement reached by Opec ministers in Algiers last month, while Russia’s support for output restraint in support of an Opec deal appears similarly ambiguous. Iraqi oil minister Jabbar al-Luaibi is pushing to increase the country’s oil and natural gas production, challenging an Opec decision last month to restrain output. Al-Luaibi insists that Iraq aims to achieve and maintain an output level of 4.75mn-5mn b/d which, even according to Baghdad’s own data, is higher than production at any time this year, with the exception of January. State-owned marketing firm Somo says Iraq produced 4.62mn b/d in August, with Argus estimates lower at around 4.32mn b/d. Production in January reached a record of 4.78mn b/d, according to Somo, although an aggregate of secondary sources used by Opec’s secretariat put January production at 4.4mn b/d.