Iraq says it will submit updated plan to compensate for oil overproduction 

Iraq yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to the OPEC+ agreement and said it would present an updated plan to compensate for any overproduction in previous periods, Reuters reported a statement from the Ministry of Oil saying.

Baghdad, OPEC’s second largest producer, said its Minister of Oil Hayan Abdel-Ghani had spoken with Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al-Ghais.

Iraq said it will continue its efforts to compensate for the accumulated overproduction while taking into account an anticipated handover of oil for export from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

OPEC+, which groups together members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, is set to begin scheduled supply increases in April.

OPEC+ is currently cutting output by 5.85 million barrels per day (bpd), equal to about 5.7 per cent of global supply, agreed in a series of steps since 2022.

In December, the group extended its latest layer of cuts through the first quarter of 2025, pushing back a plan to begin raising output to April, the latest of several delays due to weak demand and rising supply outside the group.

Baghdad is waiting for Turkiye’s approval to restart oil flows from the Iraqi Kurdistan region after a two-year halt which started in March 2022 when the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised exports between 2014 and 2018.

US President Donald Trump’s administration is putting pressure on Iraq to allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face sanctions alongside Iran, sources have said. An Iraqi official later denied pressure or the threat of sanctions.

An Iraqi Ministry of Oil official earlier told Reuters around 185,000 barrels per day would be exported from Kurdistan’s oilfields through the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline once the oil shipments resume.

Iraq and Kazakhstan have promised what are known as compensation cuts to make up for previous overproduction.

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