Mexico complying with Opec+ deal: energy minister

Mexico is "complying" with its commitment to Opec+ with crude production just below its target, energy minister Rocio Nahle said today.

"We will be attending the Opec + meeting tomorrow," Nahle told delegates at an oil conference. "We are complying with the agreement and are slightly below our target of 1.65mn b/d which gives us a certain amount of flexibility to continue working."

Nahle commented before Opec+ agreed today to cancel tomorrow's full ministerial meeting after the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) recommended keeping the group's latest crude production policy unchanged.

Non-JMMC members were contacted today to give their consent to the decision, delegates told Argus. The next Opec+ meeting will now take place on 1 June, two delegates said.

Nahle did not mention the possibility of further cuts, but Mexico has previously resisted additional output reductions amid political commitments to ramp up production.

Mexico pushed back on originally proposed cut levels last year, agreeing only to a partial reduction of 100,000 b/d May and June, with the US making a symbolic contribution of 250,000 b/d to compensate. Since then, Mexico has not participated actively in Opec+ restraints.

Mexico said previously that it would restore normal output levels from July 2020, but financial and operational restrictions and a series of weather events and accidents in the second half of last year have seen state-owned Pemex struggle to increase output.

Pemex produced 1.64mn b/d in March, compared to 1.7mn b/d in March last year.

By Rebecca Conan