OPEC+ Ministerial Monitoring Committee starts meeting

MOSCOW, September 5 – PRIME. The meeting of the OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee, which will discuss the parameters of the oil agreement for the period after September, began in the format of a videoconference, a source in the alliance told RIA Novosti.

Traditionally, the committee assesses the situation on the oil market and prepares recommendations on the future of the OPEC + deal, which will be discussed later on Monday by the heads of all alliance delegations. Reuters reported earlier, citing an unnamed source, that OPEC+ may consider, among other options, a reduction in total oil production by 100,000 barrels per day.

OPEC+ cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day in May 2020 due to a drop in oil demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Then the terms of the agreement were repeatedly adjusted. So, since August, the alliance has moved to the final stage of exiting the cuts announced two years ago, and in September it will increase production by 100,000 barrels per day.

This deal is valid until the end of the year. But in August, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ would soon begin work on a new post-2022 oil deal. He also noted the discrepancies that exist in the dynamics of the physical and “paper” (exchange) markets, saying that the alliance, as before, has all the necessary leverage to influence volatility, including production cuts. The statements of the Saudi minister on September 1 were supported by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

However, it has not been officially announced whether the alliance will discuss oil production cuts at the meeting on Monday. As for the deadline for making a decision – for a month or until the end of the year, Novak said that the practice of setting parameters on a monthly basis justifies itself.