On Wednesday, Iraq denied an earlier media report of it seeking exemption from the oil output cut agreement of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+).
A spokesman of the country’s oil ministry stated, “The Ministry of Oil would like to categorically deny this baseless statement, and affirm that, to the contrary, Iraq remains fully committed to the April OPEC+ Declaration of Cooperation, and the compensation mechanism agreed to in June.”
In August, Iraq’s compliance with the output cut pact was more than 100% and the country would sustain the performance level while simultaneously compensating the overproduction in the previous months during August and September.
Earlier on the same day, the spokesman said that if the country could not make the full compensation to the pact by the end of September, Iraq would request for an extension of the compensation period to the end of November.
Previously on Wednesday, Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar was quoted as saying, by a local newspaper in comments reported by state news agency INA, that Iraq is seeking to be exempted from the OPEC+ oil output cut in the first quarter of 2021, but the country will still comply with the cuts and compensation over the next three months.
On a related note, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of OPEC+ is scheduled to meet on September 17 to monitor compliance with the cuts and advises the OPEC+ group.
