Vienna (awp/afp) – The meeting of the 22 ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies, initially scheduled online on Sunday, has been postponed until next Thursday, the cartel announced, against a backdrop of possible discrepancies.
The meeting “has been rescheduled for December 5 because several ministers are participating in the 45th Gulf summit”, organized this weekend in Kuwait, said in a press release OPEC, which must decide on the strategy for the coming months on the basis of sluggishness of black gold prices.
It will take place online, according to a spokesperson contacted by AFP.
According to Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad Energy, OPEC+'s decision is actually motivated by the need “to give ourselves more time in the face of divergent visions within the organization.” He reminds AFP that the calendar of these two events had been known for a long time.
Prior to this decision, analyst consensus was that the organization should maintain its current strategy of production cuts.
The oil market has “no room for additional barrels in 2025”, say DNB analysts.
In addition to its quotas, eight member countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, have repeatedly postponed the reintroduction of 2.2 million barrels agreed since last year. The gradual reopening of the valves is currently planned for January 2025.
Maintaining the cuts implies the erosion of the cartel's market share, and their members must find a balance between depressed prices and the volume of barrels sold.
The market barely reacted to the announcement of the postponement.
Around 10:55 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in January, rose 0.11% to $72.91.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery the same month, gained 0.10%, to $68.79.
afp/fr
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