Opec+ cancels meeting, keeps policy unchanged: Update

Updates with confirmation of meeting cancellation, new Opec+ meeting date

Opec+ has cancelled tomorrow's full ministerial meeting after the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) recommended keeping the group's latest crude production policy unchanged.

Non-JMMC members were contacted today to give their consent to the decision, delegates told Argus. The next Opec+ meeting will now take place on 1 June, two delegates said.

The Opec+ group decided earlier this month to gradually raise its collective output ceiling in May-July, and agreed to track market developments vigilantly with the option to reverse course if necessary. During its meeting yesterday, the group's Joint Technical Committee (JTC), which monitors market conditions, raised concerns about oil demand following a severe surge in Covid-19 cases in India alongside new waves of the virus and resulting lockdowns in Europe. But the committee agreed that the market could still absorb the planned increase in Opec+ output, a delegate said.

"There are positive signals regarding the global economy and prospects for our industry," Opec secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo said following yesterday's JTC meeting. But he emphasised there are many factors that require continued monitoring.

At the last ministerial meeting, the group agreed to increase quotas by a combined 350,000 b/d next month, another 350,000 b/d in June and 441,000 b/d in July. Saudi Arabia plans to unwind its additional, voluntary 1mn b/d output cut over the same period, by 250,000 b/d next month, 350,000 b/d in June and 400,000 b/d in July.

By Rowena Edwards, Ruxandra Iordache, and Nader Itayim