• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 2 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 7 days If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 20 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 11 days Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs

Breaking News:

Oil Prices Gain 2% on Tightening Supply

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. 

More Info

Premium Content

Oil Rallies As Russia Agrees With OPEC+ Not To Raise Output In February

OPEC flags

Oil prices rallied on Tuesday morning, following reports that Russia—the OPEC+ producer that was insisting on a 500,000-bpd production increase in February—has agreed that there would not be another rise in the pact's production next month.

Both benchmarks were up by more than 3 percent as of 10 a.m. ET, with WTI Crude surging above $49.50 a barrel and Brent Crude trading at $52.80 after several reports emerged that Russia had accepted a compromise not to push for another increase next month.  

"An informed source just told me that it appears that #Russia has agreed that there won't be any increase of 500 thousand bpd for the month of February, but, not the cessation of increase for the month of March," oil journalist Reza Zandi tweeted early on Tuesday, ahead of the second day of the online meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC).

On the first day of the virtual conference on Monday, the ministers failed to reach a deal and adjourned talks until Tuesday. Reports had it on Monday that Russia and OPEC heavyweight the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were in favor of another 500,000 bpd increase in OPEC+ production in February, while most of the other OPEC+ producers were favoring a delay to that increase, due to the surging COVID-19 cases and the new lockdowns imposed to fight them.

Amena Bakr, Deputy Bureau Chief & Chief OPEC Correspondent at Energy Intelligence, tweeted on Tuesday, "According to 2 informed sources: Russia will accept a one month rollover provided there will be an increase in March."

The start of the meeting on Tuesday was delayed by half an hour and was expected to start at 4 p.m. Vienna time—a sign that delegates and ministers of the OPEC+ group still have negotiating and convincing to do to reach a unanimous decision.

Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, commented that the report of OPEC+ agreeing to roll over the current level of production into February "Makes perfect sense given the renewed demand uncertainty related to the fast-spreading UK virus variant."

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • Mamdouh Salameh on January 05 2021 said:
    If the reports are true, then Russia’ decision is good for OPEC+, the global oil market and prices as evidenced by the rise of oil prices from $51.22 to $53.25 a barrel, an almost 4% rise within minutes of the reported news.

    This means that OPEC+ will continue to implement production cuts of 7.2 million barrels a day (mbd) until the end of February. This makes perfect sense given the stricter lockdown that is being introduced globally to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Russia’s agreement with OPEC+ not to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day (b/d) in February is reported to be conditional on OPEC+ also agreeing to increase production by similar amount in March.

    Still, market conditions could change markedly either way between now and March thus allowing either for OPEC+ production increase to go ahead in March or to be withheld once again.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News