Iraq reducing oil output to meet OPEC cap

Iraq has begun implementing measures to reduce national oil output in keeping with an OPEC decision, the Minister of Oil, Jabar Ali Al-Luaibi, said yesterday.

“Iraq affirms its commitment to the OPEC decision which was taken in the last meeting in Vienna by putting in place a studied plan to reduce production from the country’s fields from the start of the new year,” Al-Luaibi said in a statement, Reuters reported.

In November 2016, OPEC agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 2017 to support prices. Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, agreed to reduce output by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.351 million bpd.

Because of its over reliance on oil sales for most of its income, Iraq had resisted production cuts, saying it needed revenue to fund a war against Daesh militants who seized a third of the country’s territory in 2014.

But it has accepted a lower production reference level as part of the OPEC deal that estimated its output at 4.561 million bpd.

Iraq is currently reviewing several options to implement the reduction, including cuts from the Kirkuk oilfield, southern fields being developed by oil majors or other state-run areas, Al-Luaibi told Reuters last month.

He said his ministry was in discussions with foreign companies operating Iraq’s giant southern fields to implement some cuts during scheduled maintenance.

While Iraq pushes ahead to meet OPEC cap its Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday the autonomous Kurdish region was exporting more than its allocated share of oil.