Iraq does not support deeper Opec+ cuts: Ghadhban

Iraq supports a rollover of existing production quotas for the whole of 2020, and does not think that deeper cuts for Opec and its non-Opec partners are needed, oil minister Thamir Ghadhban said today.

Ghadhban said at the weekend that Opec and its non-Opec allies would discuss deepening their collective production cuts by 400,000 b/d to 1.6mn b/d when they meet in Vienna this week. The minister followed it up yesterday by saying that key Opec member countries had expressed support for deeper cuts.

He clarified today that Iraq had not initiated the proposal and that a deeper cut is "definitely" not in line with Iraq's opinion.

"We have to give a positive signal to the market. At least we should roll over the present agreement which we signed in December last year for another year, for the whole of 2020. This is our opinion," Ghadhban said.

Iraq has struggled to keep its production below the 4.51mn b/d ceiling it committed to under the agreement, complying fully in just one of the 24 months it has been participating in the cuts. Iraq is currently producing around 4.6mn b/d, delivering "most of the cuts that we promised", Ghadhban said.

By Rowena Edwards