Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, the Iraqi Minister of Oil, stated that he expects oil prices to stabilize at around $57 per barrel in the first quarter of the year.
He added that the voluntary production cut by Saudi Arabia of one million barrels per day will help stabilize the market. He noted that Iraq is in talks with OPEC and allied oil producers to allow it to postpone compensating for a previous production increase. There is an understanding of Iraq's situation and financial crisis, and the request for postponement does not mean that Iraq will not comply with its commitments under the OPEC+ agreement, as it is committed to reducing its output to maintain market stability.
He mentioned that the non-compliance of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with its share of production cuts is the main reason for the low compliance level recently, which stands at 79% of the promised reductions under the OPEC+ agreement. He added that the region did not adhere to an initial agreement with the central government to reduce its production by 20%, amounting to approximately 80,000 barrels per day, and continued production at 430,000 barrels per day.
