Crude oil production

Global crude oil output remained stable in 2024, with higher production in the US offsetting Middle East production cuts.

In 2024, global crude oil production remained stable, contrasting with its average 1% growth over the 2010-2019 period. Indeed, the 4% increase in the US crude oil production in 2024 was offset by a 2% drop in production in the Middle East, as Saudi Arabia and other countries of the region applied production cuts enacted by the OPEC and partners (OPEC+) since November 2022.
In a context of declining oil prices, the OPEC+ announced oil production cuts of 2 mb/d between November 2022 and the end of 2023, as well as an additional 1.65 mb/d cut over the May-December 2023 period. These production cuts were progressively extended from the end of 2023 to the end of 2026. In August 2023, Saudi Arabia and Russia also announced voluntary oil cuts until the end of 2023 (1 mb/d and 500 kb/d, respectively). In November 2023, eight OPEC+ producers - namely Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman - agreed to voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 mb/d (including Saudi Arabia’s and Russia’s voluntary cuts) for the first quarter of 2024. The measure was progressively extended until the first quarter of 2025. Overall, crude oil production declined in Saudi Arabia (-7% in 2024 after -9% in 2023), Russia (-3%), Kuwait and Algeria (-7% each), Kazakhstan, and the UAE. It also dipped in Mexico (-6%), Brazil (-1% after record rises in 2023) and Egypt. In Europe, crude oil production declined again (-3%, including -1% in Norway, and -9% in the UK).
On the contrary, crude oil production grew in large non-OPEC+ producers such as the USA or Canada (+4% each in 2024), in China (+2%), in Nigeria (+4%), and in Qatar (+2%). It also rose by 12% in Iran (OPEC country not submitted to quotas), whose crude oil production has increased by 36% since 2019.