VIENNA: Opec agreed on Friday on a modest increase in oil production from July after Saudi Arabia persuaded Iran to cooperate amid calls from major consumers to help reduce the price of crude and avoid a supply shortage. Two Opec sources said the group agreed that Opec and its allies led by Russia should increase production by about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), or 1 per cent of global supply.
The real increase will be smaller because several countries that recently underproduced oil will struggle to return to full quotas while other producers will not be allowed to fill the gap, Opec sources have said.
The United States, China and India had urged Opec to release more supply to prevent an oil deficit that would hurt the global economy.
Saudi Arabia and Russia said they were happy to pump more but Iran had criticised the idea as it faces export-crippling US sanctions.
Iran, Opec’s third-largest producer, had demanded Opec reject calls from US President Donald Trump for an increase in oil supply, arguing that Trump had contributed to a recent rise in prices by imposing sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.
Trump slapped fresh sanctions on Tehran in May and market watchers expect Iran’s output to drop by a third by the end of 2018. That means the country has little to gain from a deal to raise Opec output, unlike top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
However, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al Falih appears to have convinced his Iranian peer Bijan Zanganeh to support the increase just hours before Friday’s Opec meeting.
Opec and its allies have since last year been participating in a pact to cut output by 1.8 million bpd. The measure has helped rebalance the market in the past 18 months and lifted oil to around $75 per barrel from as low as $27 in 2016.
But unexpected outages in Venezuela, Libya and Angola have effectively brought supply cuts to around 2.8 million bpd in recent months.
Brent oil prices were up 1.9 per cent on Friday as the output boost had been largely priced in and was seen as modest.
“It will be enough for now but not enough for the fourth quarter to address a decline in Iranian and Venezuelan exports,” said Gary Ross, head of global oil analytics at S&P Global. — Reuters
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