Iraq won't agree to new OPEC+ oil production cuts: Minister
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US energy secretary will Saudi Arabia and UAE next week
BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iraq's oil minister said on Saturday Iraq had made enough voluntary oil production reductions and would not agree to any additional cuts taken by OPEC+ at its next meeting early next month.
Sources with the knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other non-OPEC producers, could extend some voluntary output cuts should demand fail to pick up.
Asked by a reporter whether Iraq would agree to extend the OPEC+ voluntary cuts at the meeting scheduled for June 1, Hayan Abdul Ghani said: "Iraq has reduced (output) enough and will not agree to any new cut."
It was not immediately clear if Abdul Ghani meant he opposed an extension of the voluntary cuts – a statement that would fly in the face of widespread expectations that cuts would be rolled over – or was simply against any additional cuts.
He was speaking on the sidelines of an oil and gas licensing conference in Baghdad.
Iraq has repeatedly said it is committed to voluntary cuts initially announced by OPEC+ in 2023 but pumped over its output quota by a cumulative 602,000 barrels per day in the first three months of 2024, OPEC+ said in a statement on Friday.
The group said that Baghdad had agreed to compensate with additional production cuts over the rest of the year.
A VISIT TO SAUDI ARABIA AND UAE
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week to work on "climate cooperation" and other issues, two Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday.
The visit will run from Tuesday through Thursday, with Granholm visiting the UAE first, one of the officials said. It will be her first trip to the region as secretary.
"The visit is a continuation of long-standing engagement between the US and this region," the officials said.
"Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy."
Granholm will participate in a meeting of the Net-Zero Producers Forum, a group of countries representing 40 per cent of global oil and gas production, including the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the sources said.
The group, which works on ways to cut carbon emissions such as abatement of methane and deployment of clean energy, was formed in 2021.
Saudi Arabia and UAE are both members of OPEC, which is debating whether to extend output cuts.
The Net-Zero meeting was planned long in advance and Granholm does not plan to discuss oil policy with counterparts on the trip, one of the sources said.
The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia are nearing an agreement for US security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East "grand bargain" remains elusive, sources told Reuters this month.
Those talks are being led on the US side by White House officials and the State Department, but not Granholm.
