The OPEC+ group has decided to move the meeting on its near-term oil production plans to December 5 from December 1, due to a scheduling conflict, OPEC said on Thursday.
The meeting will now take place on Thursday, December 5, via video conference, as several ministers will be attending the 45th Gulf Summit in Kuwait City on December 1, OPEC added in a brief statement about the change in schedule.
At the December meeting, the members of the OPEC+ alliance are expected to discuss how to proceed with the oil production cuts in the new year.
OPEC+ had earlier this year announced plans to start gradually bringing back supply towards the end of the year if the price was right. Since the price has not been right for months, the group has been postponing its supply return. Some have suggested the production caps may have to become long-term because of the market’s refusal or failure to respond to the supply curbs with higher prices.
Weak fundamentals could prompt the OPEC+ group at the December 1 meeting to delay – once again – the output increase currently planned to begin in January, according to recent market speculation.
The most recent signal of a possible delay came from non-OPEC producer, Azerbaijan.
OPEC will likely remain committed to production curbs for yet another month, the energy minister of Azerbaijan told Reuters this week.
The ongoing OPEC+ oil production cuts and the improved compliance with quotas from some producers are supporting Brent Crude, offering a modest upside to oil prices in the near term, according to Goldman Sachs.
The U.S. investment bank expects the OPEC+ cuts to be rolled over again and the easing of the output curbs could begin gradually in April 2025, after the first quarter of next year ends.
“Saudi Arabia is more likely to extend oil production cuts because of the recent price drop and we now think that oil production cuts will last until April 2025 instead of January,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a recent note carried by Reuters.
Source: By Tsvetana Paraskova from Oilprice.com