OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said he has emerged “encouraged” from a meeting over the weekend with Iraqi officials about the country’s compliance levels with the OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts agreed late last year. “We cannot seek anything less” than 100% compliance, Barkindo said Sunday at the Iraq Energy Forum in Baghdad. “Full implementation of the OPEC agreement is crucial.” Iraq has faced criticism for not fully complying with its required cut, but officials with the Iraqi oil ministry have pointed to the country’s sharp fall in exports as evidence it is complying. Iraq’s declared exports are 276,000 b/d lower than they were in December, the last month before the agreement went into force. The agreement, however, covers production not exports, and Iraq’s declared output of 4.464 million b/d for March remains 113,000 b/d above its quota of 4.351 million b/d under the deal. Falah Alamri, Iraq’s OPEC governor and […]