MOSCOW, November 30 The OPEC+ Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) began a meeting via videoconference , said a source in one of the delegations.
Traditionally, the JMMC does not make any decisions on the fate of the OPEC+ deal, but gives the alliance a recommendation on the advisability of adjusting the parameters of the agreement and convening an extraordinary meeting of all heads of delegations. After the meeting of the monitoring committee, a meeting of all heads of OPEC+ delegations takes place.
The OPEC and OPEC+ meetings were supposed to take place in Vienna on November 25-26, but were postponed to November 30 and will be held online. As foreign media noted from the words of delegates, OPEC+ needed additional time for influential members of the alliance to agree with some African countries to reduce their production targets.
As Reuters reported earlier on Thursday, citing its sources in the alliance, OPEC+ has reached a preliminary agreement on an additional reduction in oil production by more than 1 million barrels per day. According to delegates cited by the agency, additional production cuts will include Saudi Arabia extending its voluntary 1 million barrels per day cut that began in July, as well as additional contributions from other participants — it is not yet clear which ones.
As part of the deal, OPEC+ will reduce production by 2 million barrels from the level of August of the same year from November 2022. This decision is valid until the end of 2023. In June, the alliance announced it would extend its deal through 2024 and cut its oil production target by 1.4 million barrels from next year. A number of OPEC+ countries, including the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia, have cuts in excess of quotas, totaling 1.66 million barrels per day. They are valid until the end of 2024.
Moscow and Riyadh also have additional voluntary cuts. Saudi Arabia has been cutting its production by an additional 1 million barrels per day since July (while the decision is valid until the end of the year). Russia, in turn, has been further reducing oil exports since August: in the first month by 500 thousand barrels per day, and in September-December — by 300 thousand barrels per day.