With Deal Done, OPEC Faces Hurdles in Making Output Cuts Work
- Iraq disputes OPEC-reported monthly output figures as too low
- OPEC may have trouble getting other countries to join in cuts
How Will the OPEC Production Cut Really Work?
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The challenges OPEC will confront trying to limit output were evident just minutes after the group agreed on the new plan. In an angry and sometimes incoherent briefing, Iraq’s oil minister railed against the journalists and analysts who estimate the amount of crude each member produces.
Why? Those estimates will be key to setting quotas and evaluating which countries are meeting their commitments to cap production and which aren’t. Iraq’s minister, Jabbar al-Luaibi, complained in Algiers that published estimates of Iraqi output were too low and warned that Iraq will refuse to accept figures that don’t match its own.