by Nadine Awadalla, Nayera Abdallah and Ahmad Ghaddar
DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC+ announced in a statement on Wednesday that it had postponed by four days a ministerial-level meeting during which the production levels of member countries were to be discussed, an unexpected postponement which amplified the decline in oil prices. oil.
Sources within OPEC+ said the postponement of the meeting, from November 26 to 30, stemmed from disagreements within the organization over some members’ production levels and potential cuts.
These disagreements, specified three sources, concern African countries, while OPEC+ had indicated at the end of its last meeting, in June, that the 2024 production quotas for Angola, Nigeria and Congo would depend on reviews carried out by external analysts.
The meeting initially scheduled for Sunday was expected to allow oil-exporting countries and their allies, such as Russia, to consider further tweaks to an agreement on production thresholds that already limits the supply of crude to the oil market until ‘until next year, according to analysts and sources at OPEC+.
A source inside the organization said postponing the meeting could allow countries more time to discuss both respecting current production thresholds and potential further cuts.
“Uncertainty is never a good thing for financial markets, which must now wait longer to obtain clarity on what OPEC+ will do next year,” commented Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS.
“The postponement of the meeting also shows that there are differences between participants,” he added.
Brent was down nearly $4 per barrel, or nearly 5%, trading below $79, compared to a peak of nearly $98 at the end of September, in a context of increased supply and concerns over the demand in the face of a threat of economic slowdown.
While the meeting was initially scheduled to be held at OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Wednesday’s press release does not indicate whether it will take place on November 30 by videoconference or in person. Three delegates, however, said they expected an in-person meeting in Vienna.
(Reporting Nadine Awadalla, Nayera Abdalla, Ahmad Ghaddar, Vladimir Soldatkin, Alex Lawler and Maha El Dahan; Jean Terzian, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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