The world's major oil producers on Thursday agreed to extend the existing plan of raising production by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January.
The 23-members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, held the 23rd Ministerial Meeting via videoconference to discuss the production volume for January.
The group said they decided to increase the production by 400,000 bpd in January, without ruling out to have an urgent meeting depending on the developments of the pandemic.
The group vowed to continue to monitor the market closely and 'make immediate adjustments if required.'
The 23-member OPEC+ group reduced its daily crude oil production by approximately 10 million barrels in April 2020 due to the sharp decline in demand following the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic. As the global economies and oil demand started to recover, the group also started to ease these cuts since April.
In July, major producing countries had agreed to raise output incrementally by 400,000 bpd from August to December and extend production cut agreement from April 2022 to December 2022.
The next meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC members is scheduled for Jan 4.
- OPEC+ ignores US SPR sale move
The decision to keep production increase volume unchanged came despite pressures from US President Joe Biden who repeatedly asked OPEC+ to increase its output to help alleviate high energy prices. However, the group did not relent to his demands and agreed to adhere to its production pact of 400,000 bpd in December.
Then, Biden announced that the country will start selling oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to reduce rising oil prices and called on some major oil consuming countries to join the move.
Countries including China, India, Japan, South Korea and the UK said they would join the US-led international force.
The US Department of Energy will release 50 million barrels of oil from the SPR, the largest petroleum stockpile in the world used for emergencies. The combined reserve sales from all countries so far are estimated at around 71.5 million barrels.
- Prices rebounded after OPEC+ output decision
Dropped to $65.80 per barrel before the meeting, the Brent oil price claw back to $68.52 per barrel at 1509 GMT after the meeting ended, posting by 4.13% gain.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also increased was at $65.17 per barrel at the same time, recording a 4.3% increase.
Under demand pressure since the emergence of omicron, the new COVID-19 variant last week, the oil prices posted their sharpest decline since April 2020.
Several countries have imposed travel bans on South Africa and other southern African countries, including Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
The WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that at least 23 countries from five of six WHO regions have now reported cases of the new omicron variant, with numbers only expected to grow.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr