Opec production rose nearly 700,000 b/d in November to a seven-month high of 25.19mn b/d. With the wider Opec+ grouping agreeing last week to ease production cuts by nearly 500,000 b/d in January (MEES, 4 December), the group’s output is likely to edge up further in the coming months.

Opec’s share of the 482,000 b/d January increase is 304,000 b/d. The caveat to this is that the likes of Nigeria and Iraq still have to clear significant volumes of overproduction by end-March. If implemented fully this will partially offset the easing of cuts. However, the likelihood of deep “catch-up cuts” being implemented is slim. (CONTINUED - 795 WORDS)