LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which meets on Wednesday, is not part of the group, paving the way for a gradual increase in production from December, two sources told Reuters. Reuters.
Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies, meeting within OPEC+, are holding a joint ministerial monitoring committee online on Wednesday.
The two sources, who declined to be identified, said the meeting was unlikely to bring any surprises. One said it will reaffirm the need for member countries to meet their production targets under the agreement.
International oil prices fell below $70 per barrel in September, for the first time since late 2021, but have since recovered.
This week, prices rose about 5% to above $75 amid concerns that a possible escalation in the Middle East, following Iran’s largest-ever military attack on Israel, could disrupts crude oil production in the region.
OPEC+ is cutting production by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd), or around 5.7% of global demand, as part of a series of measures agreed since the end of 2022.
The Organization plans an increase of 180,000 bpd in December, as part of a gradual unwinding of its last series of voluntary reductions during the year 2025. The increase, planned for October, had been postponed after the fall in price.
The compliance of countries will be at the center of the meeting and the weeks to come, in particular that of Iraq and Kazakhstan which have promised reductions, called compensatory, of 123,000 bpd in September and more in the following months, to compensate their previous overproduction.
An OPEC+ source told Reuters last week that more clarity on whether compensatory cuts were made in September would give the green light for an increase in December.
However, a lack of compliance could prompt Saudi Arabia and other countries to reverse their cuts more quickly starting in December, analysts say.
“If they fail to meet their commitments, we can consider a more rapid phasing out of voluntary reductions,” Helima Croft of RBC Capital said in a report.
The JMMC usually meets every two months and makes recommendations for policy changes.
(Alex Lawler, Ahmad Ghaddar, Maha El Dahan, Elena Smirnova, edited by Augustin Turpin)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
