OPEC+ is basically out of spare capacity - Feb 3

[dan_s]

IMO the OPEC cartel (not including Russia) is out of spare capacity or very close to it. Saudi Arabia not producing up to their quota.

By Grant Smith
(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s oil industry may be coming under
increasingly intense international pressure, but its seaborne
exports are far from retreating.
In fact, shipments from the country surged last month while
many of its partners in the OPEC+ coalition — including leading
member Saudi Arabia — eased back, according to data firm Kpler
Ltd.
Moscow is likely seeking to maximize oil sales before a
European Union ban widens at the weekend to include refined
products, and is pushing more cargoes onto the water after
Germany and Poland all but halted piped imports. Exports jumped
682,000 barrels a day, or 15%, to 5.18 million a day, Kpler
said. Overall oil production was steady, according to government
data.
It’s also unclear exactly what drove the decrease in Saudi
shipments, which dropped by 580,000 barrels a day last month, or
about 8%. Kpler suggests the kingdom may have been conducting
maintenance at its oil fields.
Riyadh hasn’t displayed any desire for new intervention in
global markets even as crude prices sag, with the kingdom
steering OPEC+ to keep output unchanged at a monitoring meeting
this week. After making hefty supply cuts in late 2022, the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries aims to stick with
current targets for the rest of this year, an official said.
The decrease in January is unlikely to be repeated this
month, when Saudi exports should rebound to about 7.3 million
barrels a day, said Viktor Katona, an analyst at Kpler in
Vienna.