By John Egbokhan
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) have agreed to forge ahead with a planned oil output increase in April.
A report by Reuters on Monday, said the decision, which is the first since 2022 from OPEC, comes in the face of renewed pressure from the United States President Donald Trump on OPEC and Saudi Arabia to lower oil prices.
At the close of business on Monday, Brent crude oil price declined marginally to $71.42 per barrel, from $72.81.
In April 2023, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman announced additional voluntary downward adjustments of 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd)j , until the end of December 2026.
However, in November 2023, the countries announced an additional voluntary adjustments of 2.2 million barrels per day, with the oil cartel on December 5, 2024, saying the countries will extend the adjustments until the end of March 2025.
OPEC stated that the 2.2 million bpd adjustments would be gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026 “to support market stability”.
In a virtual meeting held on Monday, the eight OPEC+ members responsible for the production cuts agreed to proceed with the planned increase.
However, OPEC+ harped on the fact that the adjustment remains subject to market conditions.
“This gradual increase may be paused or reversed subject to market conditions. This flexibility will allow the group to continue to support oil market stability,” OPEC+ said.
Reuters projected that the increase will start with a monthly rise of 138,000 bpd.
The news agency said OPEC+ has been cutting output by 5.85 million barrels per day (bpd), equal to about 5.7 percent of global supply, agreed in a series of steps since 2022 to support the market.
