RIYADH: Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with others including Russia, known as OPEC+, have agreed to stick to its target of raising production by 400,000 barrels per day, despite pressure from countries including the US to increase output beyond that goal.
The decision was made at a virtual meeting of the group, held on Tuesday Jan. 4.
A statement issued after the meeting said OPEC+ had decided to "reconfirm the production adjustment plan and the monthly production adjustment mechanism approved at the 19th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting and the decision to adjust upward the monthly overall production by 0.4 mb/d for the month of February 2022."
Before the decision was signed off, OPEC+'s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee predicted that the global oil market will move into a surplus from the first quarter of 2022.
The next meeting of OPEC+ is set for Feb. 2.
Later on Tuesday, the White House welcomed coordination with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and OPEC+ in addressing price pressures, a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the White House welcomed the decision by OPEC+ to continue increases in production which will help facilitate economic recovery.
... with HE Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, #OPEC President and Congo’s Minister of Hydrocarbons, and #OPEC SG #HEMohammadBarkindo.
— OPEC (@OPECSecretariat) January 4, 2022
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has formally closed the 23rd OPEC+ meeting, which was "in session" from Dec 2, 2021 to Jan 4, 2022: a grand total of 33 days, making it (at least on paper) the longest ever OPEC meeting. The 24th OPEC+ meeting is now ongoing #OOTT https://t.co/uBxA6YRiqr
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) January 4, 2022
