Iraq cuts crude exports in compliance with OPEC deal

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq has cut its average crude exports to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd), in line with an agreement to reduce its output, Iraq's oil minister announced on Thursday.

In early January, Baghdad agreed to cut annual oil production in compliance with an agreement between OPEC and additional non-member states such as Russia, known together as OPEC+, to curtail global supply in order to bolster prices. 

Iraq is the OPEC' second-largest producer and currently has an output below its maximum capacity of nearly 5 million bpd.

In early March, the oil ministry revealed that Iraq had exported 3.649 million bpd of crude in January while it exported close to 100 thousand bpd less, 3.54, in February.

On Thursday, Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban told reporters that the OPEC meeting planned for April in Vienna would assess the extent to which member states are in compliance to the agreed production cuts and whether the reductions should be extended to the end of the year, Reuters reported.

Ghadban affirmed that Iraq is committed to the agreement and work to stabilize the markets. He also added that the country produces just over 4.5 million bpd.

Editing by Nadia Riva