Sources in “OPEC Plus” (OPEC +) said that the group agreed today, Tuesday, to adhere to the current policy and to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels per day next February until the summer of this year.
Last December, OPEC and its allies agreed to stick to their current policy of monthly increases in oil production, despite fears that both the withdrawal of the United States from crude reserves and the new mutated strain of the Corona virus, Omicron, would lead to a new collapse. in crude prices.
The group, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, has raised its monthly production target since last August by 400,000 barrels per day.
The United States urged the group to pump more crude to help the global economy recover from the pandemic and calm oil prices as they approached $80 a barrel. But the group said the market is balanced and does not require any additional oil.
OPEC Plus is working to cancel the record production cuts of 10 million barrels per day, which were imposed in 2020, as demand and prices recover from the stagnation caused by the pandemic.
Brent crude rose 50% last year and has so far risen in 2022, to exceed $80 on Tuesday.
OPEC Plus raised production once more by 400,000 barrels per day for next February, and thus it would have regarding 3 million barrels per day of cuts left until September, in line with an agreement reached last July.
Abdullah Al-Shami, Al-Jazeera correspondent from the venue of the meeting in Vienna, said that the OPEC Plus alliance sees that the market is not yet ready to increase production, despite the increasing demands from global energy consumers and the arguments he presents that there is an increasing demand due to the attempt to recover following Corona.
The OPEC Plus Ministerial Committee expected that the market would witness a surplus in production, starting from the current quarter, and said that it is witnessing a balance at the present time.
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