Iraq Says It Won’t Agree to More OPEC+ Oil Output Cuts

(Bloomberg) -- Iraq’s oil minister said he won’t agree to more oil output cuts at the next OPEC+ meeting. 

Asked if Iraq would agree to extend the cuts, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani told reporters: “No, I think Iraq has cut enough and will not agree to any other cut.” It wasn’t clear if he was referring to an extension or a deeper cut.

Ministers are due to meet on June 1 in Vienna and are widely expected to extend their current cuts into the second half. Iraq, the second-biggest producer in OPEC, is already causing unease in the group by failing to fully implement the existing curbs.

Deputy Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair a few hours later said Baghdad was “committed to the voluntary reduction decision within the deadline set by OPEC and its allies.”

He said the country is exporting 3.4 million barrels a day so far this month. That’s just over the 3.3 million it said in March it would cut exports to, as part of efforts to get production back to the agreed level. Iraq has a long history of failing to meet OPEC targets as it struggles to rebuild its war-shattered economy, and has agreed to make additional cuts through the end of the year to make up for recent poor compliance.

(Corrects story published May 11 to correct quote)

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