NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan supported the recent agreement of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to modestly raise oil production, according to the Kazakh Energy Ministry’s press service.
Photo credit: Kazakh Energy Ministry
At their latest meeting on Dec. 3, OPEC and other oil-producing nations, including Kazakhstan and Russia, known as OPEC+, agreed to increase oil production by 500,000 barrels per day starting January 2021 bringing the total production cuts to 7.2 million barrels per day amid a global spike in coronavirus cases that weighs down on the global oil demand.
In April, the 23-member group and non-OPEC oil-producing nations agreed to a historic production cut of 9.7 million barrels a day in May and June, or ten percent of global oil output in an effort to stabilize the oil market and bring supply in line with the slump in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Production cuts tapered to 7.7 million barrels per day from August and were meant to go down by another 2 million barrels starting January 2021.
Kazakh Energy Minister Nurlan Nogayev participated in the meeting and said the agreement positively impacts the global oil industry, maintains demand and supply balances and stabilizes the oil and oil products market. For Kazakhstan, oil production cut in January 2021 will amount to 1.417 million barrels per day.
The countries also agreed to hold monthly ministerial meetings starting in January 2021 to evaluate market conditions and make decisions based on further output levels.
