By Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar
LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC+ is still negotiating ahead of an oil policy meeting on Thursday, sources said on Monday, a gathering analysts expect and some OPEC+ sources say will consider further output cuts to support the market.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, will begin its online meetings to decide oil output levels at 1300 GMT on Thursday, according to a draft agenda seen by Reuters on Monday.
The meeting was delayed from Nov. 26. OPEC+ sources said this was because of a disagreement over output levels for African producers, although sources have since said the group has moved closer to a compromise on this point.
Several analysts have said they expect OPEC+ to extend or even deepen supply cuts into next year in order to support prices, which on Monday were trading just above $79 a barrel, down from near $98 in late September.
OPEC+ sources earlier this month told Reuters the group was set to consider whether to make additional cuts.
On Thursday at 1300 GMT, ministers on an advisory panel called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee hold talks. This will be followed, at 1400 GMT, by a meeting of the full policy-making group of OPEC+ ministers, the agenda showed.
Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of OPEC+ have already pledged total oil output cuts of about 5 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 5% of daily global demand, in a series of steps that started in late 2022.
This includes Saudi Arabia’s additional voluntary production cut of 1 million bpd which is due to expire at the end of December, and a Russian export cut of 300,000 bpd also until the end of the year.
(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler, Editing by Louise Heavens, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Louise Heavens)
