NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogayev participated in the 14th meeting of OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC ministers that took place March 4. Following the meeting, Kazakhstan and Russia were allowed to increase oil production to 20,000 barrels per day and 130,000 barrels per day, respectively, in April.
In April 2020, the 23-member group and non-OPEC oil-producing nations agreed to a historic production cut of 9.7 million barrels a day or ten percent of global oil output. Photo credit: 24.kz
While production levels largely remain steady, Saudi Arabia also said it would continue its one million barrel production cut in April.
The decision is similar to the one reached in January when Kazakhstan and Russia were allowed to push their production levels up to 10,000 and 65,000 barrels per day respectively. Following the January meeting, Saudi Arabia also volunteered to cut its oil production by 1 million barrels per day to nearly 8.1 million barrels.
OPEC+ initially agreed to cut oil production by a record of 9.7 million barrels per day last year in April. The oil cuts then tapered to 7.7 million and to 7.2 million from January.
In his remarks, Nogayev noted the signs of improvement in the fight against coronavirus and the steady recovery of global oil demand.
Kazakhstan’s obligations under the OPEC+ agreement will amount to 1.457 million barrels per day or a 15 percent cut from the base level of November 2018.
“Taking into account the OPEC cuts from January 2021, the pessimistic scenario for production in 2021 is 83.4 million tons. At the same time, there is a gradual recovery of the global oil market and oil prices. We expect to fulfill the plan of 86 million tons,” Nogayev said at the ministry’s expanded meeting March 5.
Overall, the countries’ conformity with the agreement stands at 103 percent.
“Since the April 2020 meeting, OPEC and non-OPEC countries had withheld 2.3 billion barrels of oil by end of January 2021, accelerating the oil market rebalancing,” said the organisation in a press release.
Global oil demand is expected to grow by 5.8 million barrels per day to around 96 million barrels per day.
Despite the steady recovery in oil prices with Brent gaining $2.68, or 4.15 percent and hitting $66.73 per barrel, and the rollout of mass vaccination programs, OPEC called countries to “remain vigilant and flexible given the uncertain market conditions and to remain on the course which had been voluntarily decided and which had hitherto reaped rewards.”
The ministers are expected to meet April 1 to review production levels and determine future targets.
