ADNOC CUT BY 25%

PLATTS - 16 Sep 2020 - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., the UAE's biggest energy producer, confirmed Sept. 16 that it will reduce by 25% nominations of all four crudes grades in November, following a 30% cut in October.

ADNOC informed customers who buy contracted monthly volumes -- known as term lifters -- that it would cut volumes available for export in November by 25% for its more popular Murban and Upper Zakum grades and for Umm Lulu and Das Blend, an official confirmed.

The UAE, OPEC's third largest oil producer, breached its OPEC+ quota in August, pumping 2.693 million b/d, energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei tweeted on Sept. 1, as electricity demand powered by natural gas -- produced in concert with crude -- surged in the month. That is 103,000 b/d above its quota of 2.590 million b/d under the OPEC+ supply accord, and a rise of 293,000 b/d from what the country reported in July, when its cap was 2.446 million b/d.

October cut

ADNOC plans a 30% cut in October term volumes for all of its crude grades, Mazrouei said in his Sept. 1 tweet, which should help the country make up for its August overproduction.

The UAE, which has traditionally demonstrated strong compliance with its quota, boosted its output to 2.74 million b/d, according to the S&P Global Platts latest OPEC+ survey, far in excess of its cap.

The International Energy Agency's estimate in its monthly oil report released Sept. 15 put UAE's August output higher at 3.11 million b/d.

"Our production assessment is based on net exports (using tanker tracking) that were relatively steady month on month at just above 2.7 million b/d, a crude stock build of 115,000 b/d, our estimate for crude throughput in domestic refineries of 370,000 b/d and an assumed 100,000 b/d of condensates that are spiked into crude oil streams," the report said.

Quota Violation

The significant quota violation is notable for the UAE, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, which chairs a key OPEC+ committee tasked with monitoring compliance with the deal and has heavily pressured other members to adhere to their commitments. The UAE also sits on the committee.

The committee is set to hold its monthly meeting on Sept. 17.

The drastic lowering of October and November nominations follows a 5% cut that ADNOC made for September, August and July. June term volumes of Murban and Upper Zakum had been slashed 20%, with Das Blend and Umm Lulu cut 5%, as the UAE joined Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman in enacting voluntary additional cuts below their OPEC+ quotas for that month only.

OPEC+ members on Aug. 1 started relaxing their output cuts down to 7.7 million b/d from the 9.6 million b/d cut that was implemented from May through July.

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