DUBAI/LONDON, Nov 29 (Portal) – OPEC+ talks on 2024 oil policy ahead of a ministerial meeting on Thursday focused on additional oil supply cuts to support the market, although the details have not yet been agreed, they said Sources close to the group.
Saudi Arabia, Russia and other OPEC+ members pump around 43 million barrels a day, or over 40% of global supply. They have already suffered supply cuts of about 5 million bpd, or about 5% of global demand.
Two OPEC+ sources said the group was discussing a deeper collective supply cut in the first quarter, the exact duration and extent of which was not yet clear. One of them said OPEC+ may not be able to agree on this and it is possible that the meeting could change existing policies.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the new cut could be as high as 1 million bpd, a figure also reported by the Financial Times on November 17.
On Tuesday, sources said a further delay to Thursday’s meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies was possible, although it appeared on Wednesday evening that the meeting would go ahead as planned.
The meeting has already been postponed from November 26th. OPEC+ sources said this was due to a disagreement over production quotas for African producers, although sources have since said the group has largely resolved that issue.
The African quota talks come against the backdrop of the United Arab Emirates being allowed to increase production in 2024 under the latest OPEC+ agreement in June.
Global benchmark Brent crude was up 1.3% at nearly $83 a barrel at 1836 GMT on Wednesday. Prices have fallen from nearly $98 at the end of September, reflecting concerns about weaker economic growth and expectations of a supply surplus in 2024.
OPEC+ talks on production quotas have often been difficult in the past, most recently at its June meeting which extended existing oil production cuts until 2024 and agreed to the increase for the UAE due to its efforts to expand production capacity.
Saudi Arabia, Russia and other OPEC+ members have already pledged to cut oil production by a total of around 5 million bpd in a series of moves that began in late 2022.
These include Saudi Arabia’s additional voluntary production cut of 1 million bpd, set to expire at the end of December, and a Russian export cut of 300,000 bpd by the end of the year.
Reporting by Maha El Dahan, Olesya Astakhova, Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar. Text by Alex Lawler, editing by Mark Potter, Kim Coghill, Jane Merriman, Simon Webb, Alexandra Hudson and Deepa Babington
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