London
Major oil producers on Thursday are expected to continue planned moderate output increases despite pressure to further ramp up production amid soaring prices.
The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their 10 allies meet for their regular monthly meeting via video conference and are expected to re-confirm their July decision.
The powerful producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the so-called OPEC+ grouping agreed in July to modestly step up production after steeply slashing it last year as the pandemic hit global markets.
“While there is plenty of pressure on OPEC+ to increase output more aggressively, members continue to resist and instead seem to prefer to stick to their plan of easing cuts by 400,000 barrels per day per month,” ING analysts said in a note this week.
With prices for the benchmark WTI contract rising to $85, the highest since 2014, US President Joe Biden appealed on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome over the weekend to OPEC to pump more.
“The idea that Russia and Saudi Arabia and other major producers are not going to pump more oil so people can have gasoline to get to and from work.—AFP
