CHANGE? OPEC Production Steady In January As Venezuela Output Plunges.

According to OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report published on Monday, secondary sources—the ones the cartel uses to monitor compliance and official stats—pegged Venezuela’s crude oil production in January 2018 at 1.600 million bpd, down by 47,300 bpd compared to December 2017. This was the largest monthly decline in oil production among OPEC’s 14 member states. Venezuela, allowed to pump as much as 1.972 million bpd under the deal, surely did not make that cut voluntarily—its economy is collapsing and oil production has been in freefall for months now.

OPEC’s secondary sources’ estimate is lower than last week’s survey by one of those sources—S&P Global Platts—which had estimated that Venezuela’s production dropped to 1.64 million bpd in January.

I can’t imagine that hurting OPEC members aren’t rooting for the continued “success” of Venezuela’s socialist regime.