Vienna: Eight OPEC+ countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman, have reaffirmed their decision to voluntarily raise oil production starting April 1, 2025. This decision was confirmed during a virtual meeting of representatives from these countries at OPEC, aimed at reviewing global oil market conditions and the future outlook.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the countries cited healthy market fundamentals and a positive market outlook as the basis for their decision, initially agreed upon on December 5, 2024. The plan involves a gradual and flexible return of the 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary adjustments. The statement emphasized that this increase could be paused or reversed based on market conditions, allowing the group to maintain support for oil market stability.
The eight countries also reiterated their collective commitment to full conformity with the additional voluntary production adjustments agreed upon during the 53rd Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting on April 3, 2024. They confirmed their intention to fully compensate for any overproduced volumes since January 2024, in line with the compensation plans submitted to the OPEC Secretariat. The goal is to ensure all compensations are completed by June 2026.
Furthermore, countries with overproduced volumes have agreed to frontload their compensation plans, ensuring that more of these volumes are compensated in the earlier months of the compensation period. These countries will submit their updated compensation schedules to the OPEC Secretariat by March 17, 2025, which will be made available on the Secretariat's website.