The Technical Committee of OPEC+ group has dropped the International Energy Agency as a secondary source of member oil production data in favor of Norwegian consultancy Rystad and Wood Mackenzie. The decision to switch from the IEA to Rystad and Wood Mackenzie was made after a thorough analysis.
Production data from secondary sources is now essential for OPEC and OPEC+ to monitor all member countries for compliance with the requirements of the production control agreement.
In addition to secondary sources, OPEC also publishes monthly primary source production data every month with figures from member countries themselves.
The report noted that some members of OPEC+ had expressed criticism of the IEA data recently.
As for the International Energy Agency, it seems that it's not only data that bothers the oil producer group. Based on recent media reports, some members of OPEC+ are unhappy with the IEA's attitude to oil supply control. Moreover, the UAE's energy minister has recently directly slammed the organization for pushing for more oil.
This week the news came that the US would again release up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from its strategic reserves to make up for the shortfall. Oil continues to decline due to this news. As of this morning, it was trading below $100 a barrel:
Saudi energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman criticized the IEA last year. Moreover, this move eventually proved right as the IEA asked OPEC+ to increase oil investment just months after announcing that all new investments in oil and gas should end in 2021.
Bloomberg noted that the exchange of critical remarks between the two organizations had been going on for months, suggesting that removal of the IEA as a secondary source of production data was the next step.
