By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has announced it was ready to make additional oil output cut from July to September to compensate for producing more than its quota in May and June.
This was disclosed by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in a statement on Twitter ahead of talks between OPEC and its allies to extend a deal to curb supply by record amounts.
“Nigeria reconfirms our commitment under the existing agreement,” the Ministry wrote.
The country also said it subscribes to the concept of compensation by countries who are unable to attain full conformity (100%) in May and June to accommodate it in July, August and September.”
Nigeria overproduced than its 417,000 barrels per day quota agreed in May, one of the many laggards to the agreement.
The producer group known as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) previously agreed to cut supply by a record 9.7 million barrels per day during May – June to prop up prices that collapsed due to the coronavirus crisis.
However, cuts have been due to drop to 7.7 million bpd from July to December but Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to extend record cuts throughout July.
Iraq, which had one of the worst compliance rates in May, agreed to additional cuts although it was not clear how Baghdad would reach agreement with oil majors on curbing Iraqi output.
Iraq produced 520,000 barrels per day above its quota in May, while overproduction by Nigeria was 120,000 barrels per day. Other countries that overproduced included Angola (130,000 barrels per day), Kazakhstan (180,000 barrels per day) and Russia (100,000 barrels per day) according to OPEC+ data.
OPEC+’s joint ministerial monitoring committee, known as the JMMC, would now meet every month until December to review the market, compliance and recommend levels of cuts.
The next JMMC meeting is scheduled for June 18 while the next full OPEC and OPEC+ meeting will take place November 30-December 1.
