OPEC records biggest production decline in 10 months

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC+ in March reported the biggest decline in their collective production in 10 months.

According to data by Energy Intelligence, Nigeria and Russia recorded much production drop making the Organizations overall output to fall by 680,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 37.64 million bpd.

Russia, which said it was cutting oil production in March, as well as Nigeria accounted for most of the OPEC+ oil production drop. Declines in Russian and Nigerian oil production accounted for 440,000 bpd, or two-thirds, of the March drop in OPEC+ output, according to Energy Intelligence.

In March, oil production from the OPEC+ group fell to levels last seen in May 2022, with the alliance 2.5 million bpd below its targeted collective production quota. That is the largest gap between overall quota and actual production since October last year, per Energy Intelligence’s assessment.

Just after the end of March, several major OPEC+ producers, led by the top producers in the Middle East, announced on April 2 a total of 1.16 million bpd of fresh production cuts between May and December this year.

Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de facto leader and top global crude exporter, will cut 500,000 bpd and said that the move was “a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market.”

Apart from Saudi Arabia, OPEC heavyweights Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait, plus OPEC’s Algeria and Gabon, and non-OPEC Oman and Kazakhstan, announced the 1.16 million bpd cut. That’s on top of Russia’s current 500,000 bpd cut which was extended until the end of the year.

From within OPEC, Iraq is set to cut 211,000 bpd of its supply, the UAE – 144,000 bpd, and Kuwait – 128,000 bpd. Added to the Saudi cut of 500,000 bpd, nearly 1 million bpd of supply from the Middle East will disappear from the market as of next month.