The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the OPEC+ group held a meeting via video conference on Thursday, and as widely expected, did not recommend any changes to the group’s oil output plans.
The committee, which takes stake of oil market developments and recommends actions to the full ministerial meetings, reviewed on Thursday the crude oil production data for the months of November and December 2023 and noted the high compliance with the cuts, OPEC said in a statement after the meeting.
“The JMMC reviewed the crude oil production data for the months of November and December 2023 and noted the high conformity for participating OPEC and non-OPEC countries,” the statement reads.
The group will, however, soon must decide whether to extend 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of voluntary oil output cuts which expire at the end of March.
Reuters gathered that OPEC+ sources revealed that cuts will be reviewed in March and an announcement will then be made when they are up for renewal as has been customary with OPEC+ voluntary cuts so far.
OPEC’s member Algeria said its willing to carry on with the cuts beyond March, Riyadh also agrees with the cuts carried on beyond the first quater if needed. For Kuwait, it affirmed commitment to the curbs, without saying whether they should be extended.
Saudi Arabia alone accounts for nearly half of those cuts at 1 million bpd. If these cuts are unwound, OPEC+ would begin to return 2.2 million bpd to the market from the beginning of April. This would leave in place 3.66 million bpd of output cuts agreed earlier.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novk, after taking part in the OPEC+ meeting, noted that the situation in the oil market is stable.
The JMMC usually meets every two months and brings together leading countries within the alliance. Its next meeting will hold on the third of April, the statement said.
