The meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the OPEC+ group held a meeting via videoconference on Thursday and, as widely expected, did not recommend the full OPEC+ group take any action regarding crude oil production levels.
The JMMC, which takes stock of oil market developments and recommends actions to the full ministerial meetings, reviewed on Thursday the crude oil production data for the months of November and December 2023 and noted the high compliance with the cuts, OPEC said in a statement after the meeting.
OPEC+ members have collectively decided to voluntarily cut 2.2 million bpd from the group's production this quarter, although much of that was production cuts that were already in effect, including Saudi Arabia's 1 million barrels per day (bpd) voluntary cut.
The committee will continue to closely assess market conditions and "noted the willingness of the DoC countries to address market developments and their readiness to take additional measures at any time."
The next meeting of the JMMC is scheduled to take place on April 3, 2024.
The OPEC+ group doesn't have any plans to alter the current oil production policy and cuts when the alliance's monitoring panel meets on February 1, OPEC+ delegates told Bloomberg last week.
Part of the current oil production cuts only started at the beginning of January, so OPEC+ will need more time to review and assess what impact the output reduction has had on market balances, Bloomberg's anonymous sources said.
Commenting on the panel meeting today, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Rossiya-24 channel in an interview that the current market situation is stable.
However, OPEC+ would take further actions if the market needs stabilization, Novak added. These measures could be either increasing or decreasing production or supply, the Russian official in charge of Moscow's relations with OPEC+ added.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
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Comments
Current oil prices aren't truly reflecting these fundamentals in any shape or form. The reason is a deliberate manipulation of the market by oil traders, speculators and the United States aimed at helping the stagnating US economy and enabling the US to refill its SPR.
I am convinced that the market fundamentals will eventually prevail with oil prices resuming their surge towards $90-$100 this year.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert