MOSCOW, Russian central bank said on Thursday that OPEC+, the group of leading oil producing countries, may delay a planned increase in oil output from Jan. 1, 2021 as the pandemic has negatively impacted the economic outlook and oil demand.
OPEC+ is due to raise output by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in January – about 2 per cent of global consumption – as it moves to ease this year’s record supply cuts. With demand weakening, OPEC+ has been considering delaying the increase.
“The worsening outlook for the global economy’s recovery and, accordingly, for the oil demand are pressuring the oil market. In such an environment, OPEC+ may make a decision to delay the planned easing of oil output cuts from January 2021,” the bank said in its review.
“On one hand, this could lend support to the oil prices, but on other hand, oil companies would not be able to raise output volumes.”
Earlier this week, three sources close to OPEC+ told Reuters that OPEC and allies including Russia are leaning towards delaying next year’s planned increase in oil output to support the market during the second wave of COVID-19 and rising Libyan output, despite a rise in prices. (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova, Vladimir Soldatkin and Lena Fabrichnaya; editing by David Evans)