The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, together known as OPEC+, have made voluntary  cut of  crude oil production of 1.66 million barrels per day (mbpd).

To ensure stability of the oil market, OPEC+ early in October had cut production by 2 mbpd and extended the duration of the Declaration of Cooperation (DOC) until 31 December 2023. This brings the total production cut by members to 3.66 mbpd since October 2022.

This was disclosed by OPEC in a statement after the 48th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which took place via videoconference on Monday.

According to the statement by OPEC, which was made available to Majorrwaves,   Saudi Arabia will cut its production by 500 thousand b/d; Iraq by 211 thousand b/d; United Arab Emirates by 144 thousand b/d; Kuwait  by 128 thousand b/d; Kazakhstan  by 78 thousand b/d; Algeria by 48 thousand b/d; Oman by 40 thousand b/d; while  Gabon will cut its production by  8 thousand b/d. This is in addition to 500 thousand b/d voluntary cut by Russia.

“The Committee reviewed the crude oil production data for the months of January and February 2023 and noted the overall conformity for participating OPEC and non-OPEC countries of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC).

“The Members of the JMMC reaffirmed their commitment to the DoC which extends to the end of 2023 as decided at the 33rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) on 5th of October 2022, and urged all participating countries to achieve full conformity and adhere to the compensation mechanism.

“The Meeting noted the following voluntarily production adjustment announced on 2 April 2023 by Saudi Arabia (500 thousand b/d); Iraq (211 thousand b/d); United Arab Emirates (144 thousand b/d); Kuwait (128 thousand b/d); Kazakhstan (78 thousand b/d); Algeria (48 thousand b/d); Oman (40 thousand b/d); and Gabon (8 thousand b/d) starting May until the end of 2023. These will be in addition to the production adjustments decided at the 33rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting.

“The above will be in addition to the announced voluntary adjustment by the Russian Federation of 500 thousand barrels per day until the end of 2023, which will be from the average production levels as assessed by the secondary sources for the month of February 2023.

“Accordingly, this will bring the total additional voluntary production adjustments by the above-mentioned countries to 1.66 million b/d,” OPEC said.

The organisation noted that this is a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market.

“The Committee thanked the OPEC Secretariat for their contribution to the meeting. The next meeting of the JMMC (49th) is scheduled for 4th of June 2023,” it added.