In a little more than a week’s time, the Opec+ ‘Group of Eight’ will complete the final tapering of its 2.2mn b/d of voluntary cuts, one year ahead of schedule. The final 550,000 b/d tranche will return on 1 September, concluding this round of cuts that has been in place since January 2024 (MEES, 8 August).
The Group of Eight will continue to meet on a monthly basis to assess market conditions and can opt to reinstate production cuts if oil markets soften. Implementation of this layer was often lax, despite intense lobbying by senior officials last year (MEES, 30 August 2024), with the Group of Eight’s cumulative production often well in excess of the combined quota. As such, the actual increase in production as cuts were unwound has been relatively modest (see chart 1). (CONTINUED - 816 WORDS)
