Russia, which has previously pushed for restraint in supply boosts, favored an adjustment that would help to defend prices while Saudi Arabia — more mindful of market share — supported a larger addition, a delegate said prior to Sunday’s gathering.
President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons said in an interview she wants to find a way to push back debt payments until after the administration receives revenue from oil production in 2028, which may involve calling back the existing 2033 bond. She’s also considering a new program with the International Monetary Fund that would focus on strengthening institutions rather than austerity measures that she said harmed the economy in the past.
According to the National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels, production rose to 1.03 million bpd in August from 998,757 bpd in July. The rebound aligns with Angola’s strategy to stabilize production near 1 million bpd, a threshold viewed as critical for maintaining investment momentum in the country’s upstream sector.
Chevron plans to increase its oil production in Argentina’s shale play Vaca Muerta to about 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, from around 25,000 bpd now, Ana Moneto, the U.S. supermajor’s Argentina country manager, said.
Over the past couple of years, China’s oil industry has revealed a peculiar trend, with production maintaining an upward trajectory that seems to defy falling oil prices. Under normal circumstances, oil and gas producers tend to cut back output whenever prices fall too much in a bid to cut their losses. For instance, several U.S. shale producers are signaling production cuts due to low oil prices: back in May, Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) chair and CEO Travis Stice warned that the Shale Patch had reached a “tipping point” with production set to decrease going forward amid low oil prices.
Full details of the decision were not immediately clear. The move came around the same time Washington and Caracas brokered an agreement that saw the release of 10 Americans detained in Venezuela, while 250 Venezuelans who were imprisoned in El Salvador were returned to their home country.
The OPEC+ producers pumped 41.559 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in June, up by 349,000 bpd from May, but lower than the 411,000 bpd monthly increase under the alliance’s output hike plan.
The recent reiteration by Iraq Oil Ministry of a 7 million barrels per day (bpd) oil production target within the next five years has spurred activity among Chinese firms that continue to dominate the country’s oil and gas sector. As it stands, more than a third of all Iraq’s proven oil and gas reserves and over two-thirds of its current production are managed by Beijing’s companies, according to industry figures. This translates into Chinese companies having a combined direct share in around 24 billion barrels of reserves and responsibility for production of around 3.0 million bpd. The latest in the very long line of Beijing’s firms to benefit from its ongoing stealthy takeover of Iraq’s huge oil and gas assets is China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Company (HQC), which has signed a huge project management consultancy contract for the supergiant West Qurna 1 oilfield.
Late last year, the company’s management revised its budget down, which could prove an additional obstacle to boosting production. The cutback follows instructions from Pemex’s new upstream head, Nestor Martinez, to scale back major well repairs and seismic data contracts. Instead, Pemex will focus on developing new deposits, especially in the deep waters of the Gulf.
OPEC wasn’t keen on responding to President Trump’s pressures at the time, nor does it appear to be factoring into their decision now. But Trump’s recent decisions—global tariffs, sanctions on Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, and the US President’s favorable view of the oil industry as opposed to renewables are all making OPEC+’s decisions particularly complex as it attempts to properly manage supply in line with demand.