More than five years ago, non-Opec members of the Opec+ alliance won a major boost when in December 2019 they secured an agreement that condensate would be exempt from their Opec+ production quotas. The move brought them in line with Opec members and swiftly resulted in condensate production increases from the likes of Russia and Oman (MEES, 6 December 2019).
Omani condensate output jumped from 130,000 b/d in 2019 to 189,000 b/d in 2020 – despite global oil demand cratering amid the Covid-19 pandemic – and has continued rising since, hitting a record 234,000 b/d last year (MEES, 24 January). But it’s not just the non-Opec countries which are increasing their production of condensate and NGLs, Opec’s figures show that the group’s own production of non-crude liquids has been steadily increasing through the years, rising from 5.12mn b/d in 2020 to 5.47mn b/d last year (see chart 1). This was equivalent to 17% of Opec’s 2024 liquids output, meaning that a sizeable proportion of the group’s total output is now exempt from production cuts. (CONTINUED - 950 WORDS)
