Oil Hits $70/b as Nigeria’s output surpasses OPEC+ quota for February

Oil price steadied after the Organization of the Production Export Countries released its monthly report, with Brent crude maintaining its earlier gains, trading above $70 a barrel on Thursday.

OPEC said on Wednesday that Kazakhstan led a sizeable jump in February crude output by the wider OPEC+, highlighting a challenge for the producer group in enforcing adherence to agreed output targets. In its monthly report for March 2025, OPEC+, which includes OPEC plus Russia and other allies, in February raised output by 363,000 barrels per day to 41.01 million bpd, led by Kazakhstan.

The hike is more than twice as much as a scheduled 138,000 bpd rise in OPEC+ output starting in April as the group phases out its most recent layer of output cuts. The plan for higher output, as well as concern about trade tariffs, have put downward pressure on oil prices. Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, has been producing at a record high, and well above its OPEC+ quota, as U.S. oil major Chevron.

According to the OPEC data, which it compiles from secondary sources, Kazakhstan produced 1.767 million bpd of crude in February, up from 1.570 million bpd in January. Kazakhstan’s OPEC+ quota is 1.468 million bpd. The OPEC data also showed some other OPEC+ nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Gabon pumping above their quotas, but by far smaller amounts.