Mexico claims compliance with Opec+ deal: Update

Adds details on Mexico's participation in Opec+ deal, updates on today's meeting

Mexico claims it is "complying" with its Opec+ commitments, despite not participating actively in the group's crude output restraint deal since June last year.

"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," energy minister Rocio Nahle said today.

Mexico no longer formally contributes to Opec+ production cuts. In April 2020, it resisted calls to reduce its output by up to 400,000 b/d from an October 2018 baseline of 1.75mn b/d. The group allowed Mexico to cut production by just 100,000 b/d in May-June 2020 in order to push the deal through. And it has not required Mexico to cut from its baseline since then.

Financial and operational restrictions alongside a series of weather events and accidents in the second half of last year have limited state-owned Pemex's ability to increase output. The company produced 1.64mn b/d in March, compared to 1.7mn b/d in March last year.

Nahle's comments came ahead of a meeting today of members of the Opec+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which monitors compliance. The committee recommended sticking with a previously agreed plan to gradually increase production from next month. Remaining Opec+ members were contacted to give their consent to the decision, in a move that effectively saw the JMMC meeting morph into a full-blown Opec+ ministerial meeting.

The group had decided against holding a full ministerial meeting tomorrow as originally planned. The next Opec+ meeting will now take place on 1 June.

By Rebecca Conan and Rowena Edwards