OPEC+ ministers decide to keep current deal parameters

At a meeting of ministers of OPEC countries and non-OPEC states, a decision was made to maintain the current oil production quotas, follows from communiqué at the end of the meeting via videoconference.

“The participating countries decided to: confirm the decision of the 10th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial meeting on April 12, 2020 and approved at subsequent meetings, including the 19th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial meeting on July 18, 2021 and the 33rd OPEC Ministerial meeting on July 18, 2021 and the 33rd meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC on October 5, 2022,” the document says.

The decision taken at the end of the meeting on October 5 to reduce oil production quotas by 2 million barrels per day for November-December 2022, as noted in the communiqué, was due “only market considerations and recognized by market participants as a necessary and correct course of action.”

“The participating countries reaffirmed their readiness to meet at any time and take immediate additional measures to respond to market changes and maintain the balance of the oil market and its stability, if necessary,” the document says.

The next OPEC+ ministerial meeting is scheduled for June 4, 2023.

On November 9, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, called on the OPEC+ countries to reconsider the decision to reduce the quota for oil production.

“You can’t say that the 2 mb/d cut was helpful because it drives up inflation and weakens the economy, especially in developing countries,” Birol explained. He called the decrease in the OPEC+ quota “unexpected” and noted that the cartel countries had previously wanted to see higher oil prices, but behaved “more responsibly” due to the threat of a recession in the global economy.