OPEC+ dealing 'realistically' with oil market changes to achieve balance: Iraq oil minister

OPEC+ is 'accurately' studying oil market developments

OPEC+ ministers due to meet June 3-4 to review policy

Iraq losing 500,000 b/d due to suspension of exports via Turkey

OPEC members and 10 other countries outside the group in the OPEC+ alliance are dealing "realistically" with oil market changes while working to achieve a balance between supply and demand, Iraq's oil minister said.

The collective agreement and adherence of OPEC+ members to the alliance's decisions have helped them deal with the challenges and "harsh conditions" facing the oil markets and the global economy, Hayan Abdul-Ghani said in a May 12 statement.

OPEC+ decisions are taken after "accurately" studying oil market developments and the 23 members will not hesitate to make decisions that achieve supply and demand balance and stabilize the oil markets, the minister added.

Eight members of OPEC+, including Iraq, began on May 1 implementing a collective voluntary cut of 1.657 million b/d until the end of 2023 as a "precautionary" move.

These cuts are on top of the alliance's 2 million b/d reduction that started in November and will be carried through till the end of 2023.

Voluntary oil cuts

OPEC+ ministers are next due to meet June 3-4 to review production policy, with many analysts expecting a tight market in the second half of the year.

Iraq, which implemented a voluntary cut of 211,000 b/d in May, is adhering to these curbs until the end of 2023, the minister said.

Iraq, OPEC's second biggest producer, has lost 500,000 b/d due to the continued suspension of Iraqi oil exports via Turkey's port of Ceyhan since March 25, Abdul-Ghani said.

Production in Iraq fell by 290,000 b/d to 4.10 million b/d in April, the lowest in 20 months, according to the lates Platts survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights, due to the shutdown of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.

The April production is below Iraq's 4.431 million b/d quota, which dropped to 4.22 million b/d in May.

Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO has asked Turkey's state-owned Botas, the operator of Ceyhan terminal, to resume exports from the semiautonomous Kurdistan region on May 13, Abdul-Ghani said, as Erbil and Baghdad seek to restart northern output suspended since March 25.

Temporary deal

Abdul-Ghani confirmed in a statement that Baghdad has informed the Turkish authorities about resuming exports via Ceyhan on May 13.

The Kurdistan Regional Government said May 11 that oil ministries in Erbil and Baghdad were waiting for Turkey's response to SOMO's request to restart exports from Ceyhan, which handled more than 450,000 b/d from its neighbor before suspension on March 25.

More than 450,000 b/d of production of Kurdish Bend Test from the semiautonomous region's fields and Kirkuk grade from federal fields are offline after Turkey halted exports via Ceyhan in the wake of an international court ruling.

The prime ministers of Kurdistan and Iraq agreed to a temporary deal April 4 to resume oil exports through Ceyhan, but despite many pledges of a quick restart, no crude has loaded since March 25.

For exports to resume, Ankara would also need to agree to reopen the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, which has been shuttered as a result of the dispute.

Turkey, which goes to the polls on May 14 in twin presidential and parliamentary elections, imported 30.2% of its 2.017 million mt of crude from Iraq in February before the suspension in March.