OPEC+ May production seen up but quota compliance stays high – surveys

London - (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – OPEC+ countries collectively produced the highest level of crude last month since May 2020, but compliance remains at relatively high levels, according to a number of industry surveys released this week.

Argus Media said the OPEC+ group added 440,000 barrels per day to their collective production in May, as members received their first round of quota increases since January and Saudi Arabia began unwinding its additional cut.

In total OPEC+ produced 34.69 million bpd last month, according to the Argus survey, but noted compliance slipped to a four-month low of 113%.

OPEC conformity eased to 124% and the non-Opec level rose to 94%, said Argus.

The monthly S&P Global Platts survey found OPEC+ production up by 430,000 bpd, noting Saudi Arabia accounted for most of the monthly rise.

Platts said compliance stayed mostly steady at 111.45%, compared to 111.16% in April.

Energy Intelligence, meanwhile, said compliance among OPEC+ countries was a combined 115%, in part due to upstream difficulties in Nigeria and Angola.

Along with the other surveys, Energy Intelligence put Saudi at the top of production hikes with a monthly increase of 292,000 bpd.

Saudi Arabia made an additional voluntary cut earlier this year of 1 million bpd.