Energy: Oil cartel OPEC+ postpones production increase again

The oil exporting countries of the OPEC+ group want to maintain their restrictive production policy for longer than planned. Eight members announced that their cut in daily production of 2.2 million barrels (159 liters each), decided a year ago, would only be gradually lifted from the end of March, and not from January as planned.

The entire 2.2 million barrels should not come back onto the market until the end of September 2026. However, the eight states, led by oil heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia, noted that monthly production increases could still be “suspended or reversed depending on market conditions.”

In addition, the eight states announced a production cut of 1.65 million barrels in April 2023. This shortage measure will be maintained until the end of December 2026, it said on Thursday.

China dampens global oil demand

In total, around 20 countries cooperate within the framework of OPEC+ to ensure stability in the market and support crude oil prices. The entire group decided in a virtual meeting on Thursday not to change their currently set national funding quotas until the end of 2026.

OPEC+ had already postponed planned increases. The reason for this lies in Asia. “Demand from China has hardly increased this year; from the current perspective, no significant recovery is expected next year either,” raw materials analyst Carsten Fritsch from Commerzbank told the German Press Agency.

The OPEC+ countries pumped around 40 million barrels a day in October, which corresponds to around 40 percent of global crude oil production.

Analysts and commodity traders had expected the cuts to be extended before the latest decisions. The price for North Sea Brent oil was around $72.6 per barrel on Thursday afternoon, slightly higher than the previous day. The US variety WTI rose slightly in price to $68.8.