The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the OPEC Plus (+), a coalition of major non-OPEC oil-producing countries, have decided to postpone the planned oil production increase scheduled for December by one month. This move comes two days before the U.S. presidential election.
According to major foreign media including the Associated Press on the 3rd (local time), the eight OPEC+ countries stated in a press release that they "have decided to extend the daily production cut of 2 million barrels for one month until the end of December." They added that they "reaffirmed their collective commitment to achieving full compliance with production targets."
The eight OPEC+ countries agreed last November to voluntarily cut oil production by 2.2 million barrels per day and initially planned to start a phased increase last month. However, following the two-month extension of the production increase start date in September by the eight OPEC+ countries, they have now extended the start date by an additional month.
The background to OPEC+'s decision appears to be influenced by factors such as a decline in Chinese oil demand and easing tensions in the Middle East, which have contributed to the recent downward trend in international oil prices.
Following OPEC+'s announcement, international oil futures prices in the Asian market rose by more than 1% on the 4th. As of early trading that day, the global benchmark Brent crude oil January futures price increased by 1.5% to $74.24 per barrel, and the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) December futures price rose 1.6% to $70.63 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the daily production cut of 3.66 million barrels allocated to all OPEC+ member countries is expected to be maintained until the end of next year.
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