Opec+ brings forward JMMC meeting to today

A meeting of the Opec+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) that was originally scheduled for tomorrow has been brought forward to today, two Opec+ delegates said.

The committee, which typically monitors compliance with the continuing Opec+ output cut agreement and makes policy recommendations to the full ministerial conferences, will now meet at 14:00 Vienna time.

As of now, Opec+ ministers are still scheduled to meet virtually tomorrow afternoon as originally planned. But one delegate said tomorrow's ministerial meeting may not take place if ministers agree at today's JMMC meeting to stick with the plan that was agreed when they last met on 1 April.

That meeting saw the Opec+ group agree to a roadmap that could lead to its overall crude output rising gradually by 2mn b/d between May and July.

Under the agreement, the group's collective output ceiling would increase by 350,000 b/d in May, another 350,000 b/d in June, and a further 441,000 b/d in July.

In addition, Saudi Arabia would also unwind the additional voluntary 1mn b/d cut it has implemented since February over the same three-month period. This would be done in increments of 250,000 b/d in May, 350,000 b/d in June and 400,000 b/d in July.

But both Saudi oil minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Russia's deputy prime minister Alexander Novak stressed that the group would always have the possibility of reversing or changing course at future meetings if market conditions required.

By Nader Itayim and Ruxandra Iordache