OPEC’s crude oil production for February was, on average, 150,000 bpd more than it was in January, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday.
OPEC’s February crude oil production rose to 28.97 million bpd, the survey said, but is still 700,000 bpd less than it was in September.
OPEC+–responsible for producing around 40% of the world’s crude oil– cut its oil production targets as demand took a tumble during the pandemic. The group slowly raised its production targets last year as demand increased but consistently failed to meet its monthly production targets.
In September last year, OPEC+ decided to begin cutting the group’s production targets, effective in October. The first cut was mild, at just 100,000 bpd. The cut was considered mostly symbolic, with the group at the time still underproducing by nearly 3 million bpd. But with oil prices falling from $120 Brent to less than $90 Brent by their October meeting, OPEC+ moved to tighten oil markets even further by making a drastic cut to its production targets by 2 million bpd, effective in November.
The group’s production targets have not changed since then.
For the ten OPEC members that are part of the wider OPEC+ agreement, February production was 880,000 bpd below its targets. This is closer to their target than they were in January when they produced 920,000 bpd less than their target.
For February, Nigeria was behind OPEC’s largest increase in production, with the African nation boosting production by 100,000 bpd, according to the Reuters survey. Iraq saw the second-largest increase in production.
Angola saw a drop in crude oil production in February of 80,000 bpd.
The Reuters survey is based on shipping data, Petrologistics, and Kpler, along with information provided by OPEC and consultants, Reuters said.