MOSCOW (TASS): The OPEC + ministerial conference ended on Tuesday without surprises. The meeting lasted only about half an hour, according to its results, the countries – the parties to the agreement, as expected, appro-ved an increase in oil production in February by 400 thousand b / d, a source in OPEC told TASS. Later this information was confirmed by OPEC, having published the corresponding press release.
“The growth of 400 thousand bpd has been approved,” the source said. According to the official schedule, OPEC + countries will be able to produce 40.894 million bpd in February. Of this volume, Russia and Saudi Arabia will each have 10.227 million bpd.
OPEC + oil exporters proceed from the fact that the oil market is currently balanced, said the conclusion of the monitoring committee, which TASS got acquainted with on Tuesday. At the same time, they expect that after the first quarter of 2022 the market will begin to shift towards a surplus and oil reserves will grow. Earlier, experts from the OPEC + technical committee estimated a possible surplus on the oil market in 2022 at 1.4 million bpd. This forecast takes into account the decisions of OPEC + to regulate oil production, as well as the release of oil reserves from the strategic reserves of the United States.
As indicated in the final communique, the OPEC + ministers also extended the plan to compensate for the overproduction of oil until the end of June.
The next meeting of the OPEC + countries is scheduled for February 2. At it, ministers are to discuss oil production levels for March.
In February, the OPEC + countries will cut production by only 2.959 million b / d, and not 9.5 million b / d, as in May 2020.