LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – OPEC+ decided on Sunday to carry out a slight increase in its oil production in December and then not to increase its production in the first quarter of 2026, while the group is worried about a glut.

Bringing together the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and several small producing countries, OPEC+ has raised its production targets since last April by around 2.9 million barrels per day, or around 2.7% of global demand.

But in October the group began to slow the pace of its increases, with forecasts raising fears of a glut.

In its strategy to regain market share from its competitors – in particular American producers – OPEC+ also comes up against new Western sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow could find it difficult to continue increasing production after the United States and Britain announced sanctions on Russia’s two main oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in October.

Eight OPEC+ members – Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Kazakhstan and Algeria – agreed on Sunday to raise production targets for December by 137,000 barrels per day, as in October and November.

“Beyond December, for seasonal reasons, the eight countries have also decided to pause production increments in January, February and March 2026,” it is written in an OPEC+ press release.

The January-March period is traditionally the weakest quarter for oil demand. OPEC+ has made similar decisions in recent years.

(Olesya Astakhova, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Maha El Dahan; Jean Terzian)

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