Iraq, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ fourth-largest producer of oil, is seeking a pardoning from the existing OPEC+ deal in Q1 of 2021 but insists it will adhere to cuts over the next 3 months, according to Reuters.

Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar informed state-run newspaper INA that Iraq has asked to be exempt from the agreement to cut exports in OPEC and the subject has been broached with the organization’s oil ministers in three consecutive meetings.

Abdul Jabbar announced that Iraq would cut its production by an additional 400,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in August and September to compensate for its overproduction in the three previous months. This is in addition to the 850,000 bbl/d it had originally committed to cut in August and September under an OPEC+ supply pact.

The Iraqi oil ministry announced that it exported 80.494 million barrels of crude oil (mmbbl/d) in August, with revenues of more than $3.51 billion created. As a daily rate of exports, it worked out as 2.597 mmbbl/d, with 2.5 mmbbl/d coming from Basra and 97,000 bbl/d from Ceyhan, respectively. 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, are currently cutting output by 7.7 mmbbl/d to support prices as the coronavirus crisis kills demand.