OPEC's 11 quota-bound members were complying with 83% of agreed cuts in April and still have 705,000 barrels left to cut, Vienna-based consultancy JBC Energy said Tuesday.
The estimate comes as markets are increasingly scrutinizing whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is respecting its commitment to reduce output by 4.2 million barrels a day, as it prepares to meet on May 28.
JBC Energy said in a report it "estimates OPEC-11 crude output (OPEC-12 excluding Iraq) at 25.55 million barrels a day in April," a drop of 20,000 barrels a day month-on-month.
The figures are consistent with a Dow Jones Newswires survey Monday that indicated that the OPEC-11 last month still remained about 705,000 barrels a day above their production target of 24.845 million barrels a day effective since Jan. 1. Despite the noncompliance to previous cuts so far, JBC says it "expects the exporters' organization to cut output by another 1 million b/d."