8 countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia agree to extend voluntary production cuts for two months

The OPEC Plus countries, which announced additional voluntary cuts in their crude oil production in April and November 2023, held a remote meeting today, September 4, 2024, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, the State of Kuwait, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, and the Sultanate of Oman.

The 8 member countries affirmed, at the meeting, their collective determination to fully adhere to the voluntary production adjustments. The Republic of Iraq and the Republic of Kazakhstan, whose production has exceeded the agreed level since January 2024, also affirmed their full commitment to the agreement and to the plans to compensate for the increase in production, which they submitted to the OPEC General Secretariat, as agreed upon at the 53rd meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee held on April 3, 2024.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates, the State of Kuwait, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, and the Sultanate of Oman held two ministerial meetings with the Republic of Iraq and the Republic of Kazakhstan in August 2024. During the meetings, the two countries were urged to achieve full compliance and compensate for the increase in production since January 2024. In the meetings, Iraq and Kazakhstan expressed their commitment to work with secondary sources to develop production adjustment plans to achieve full compliance and implementation of the compensation schedules they submitted to the OPEC General Secretariat on August 22. The Republic of Iraq and the Republic of Kazakhstan also renewed their commitment during the visits of the OPEC Secretary-General to them in late August, which were coordinated with His Highness the Saudi Minister of Energy, Chairman of the OPEC Plus Ministerial Committee. During these visits, the OPEC General Secretariat organized workshops with secondary sources, during which both countries provided comprehensive details on the immediate and tangible measures being implemented to achieve full compliance with the required production levels, and the full implementation of compensation plans for the months of August and September. These measures included: bringing forward the dates of field maintenance plans, reducing production, in addition to delaying and canceling spot oil sales for the month of August. The two countries also committed to amending compensation plans in the event of any increase in production in the month of August. In confirmation of this renewed and firm commitment by the member states, the eight countries agreed to extend the additional voluntary production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day for two months until the end of November 2024, after which the voluntary reductions will be gradually restored, on a monthly basis, starting from 1 December 2024, according to the attached schedule, with the possibility of stopping or reversing these adjustments as necessary.

The countries whose production exceeded the agreed level also confirmed their commitment to compensate for all excess production quantities by September 2025.

Production levels with the restoration of the voluntary reduction quantities announced in November 2023, starting from December 2024 until November 2025.