Opec+ output rose in February but shortfall widened

Opec+ output rose in February but shortfall widened

London, 11 March (Argus) — The Opec+ alliance raised its collective crude production by 340,000 b/d last month but the gap between output and target widened again, to 890,000 b/d, in a month of escalating calls for it to raise supply faster.

Production from Opec+ participants was 38.25mn b/d in February, up from 37.91mn b/d in January but below the target of 39.14mn according to an Argus survey.

Notably, the quota-exempt Opec members Iran and Libya raised output by a combined 170,000 b/d in February, with the north African country accounting for 130,000 b/d of this after an early-January restart of four crude and condensate fields. But 14 of the wider group's 19 members produced below quota in the month, as dwindling spare capacity, underinvestment and infrastructure restraints have constrained output increases at a time when international sanctions relating to the conflict in Ukraine are raising doubt about the reliability of Russian supplies.

The country exports at least 4.5mn b/d of crude, and there is the possibility of an effect on the 1.34mn b/d of Kazakh CPC Blend, which contains marginal Russian oil but is exported from the country's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The US and the UK have already taken action