Energy Oil cartel Opec+ postpones production increase again
The oil exporting states of the Opec+ group want to maintain their restrictive production policy for longer than planned. The cut in daily production by 2.2 million barrels decided a year ago is only to be gradually lifted from the end of March.
05.12.2024, 15:59
SDA
Originally, the cartel had planned to lift the cut as early as January. The entire 2.2 million barrels are therefore not due to return to the market until the end of September 2026.
However, the eight states led by oil heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Russia pointed out that the monthly production increases could still be "suspended or reversed depending on market conditions".
In addition, the eight countries announced a production cut of 1.65 million barrels in April 2023. This shortage measure will remain in place until the end of December 2026, it was announced on Thursday.
China curbs global demand for oil
A total of around 20 countries cooperate within the framework of Opec+ to ensure stability in the market and support crude oil prices. In a virtual meeting on Thursday, the entire group decided not to change its current national production quotas until the end of 2026.
Opec+ had already previously postponed planned increases. The reason for this lies in Asia. "Demand from China has barely increased this year; from the current perspective, no significant revival is expected next year either," said commodities analyst Carsten Fritsch from Commerzbank to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
The Opec+ states 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 prior to the latest decisions. The price of North Sea Brent crude was around 72.6 dollars per barrel on Thursday afternoon, slightly higher than the previous day. US WTI crude rose slightly to 68.8 dollars.
