Opec+ members have agreed to proceed with a plan to start increasing crude output starting in April.
The eight Opec+ countries — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman — are to go ahead with their existing plan to start unwinding 2.2mn b/d of "voluntary" output cuts over an 18-month period from April. The plan also includes a 300,000 b/d increase in the UAE's production target, which will be phased in over the same 18-month period.
In a statement late today, Opec said the decision took into account "healthy market fundamentals and the positive market outlook."
If implemented fully, the plan would see the production targets of the eight members rise by an average of 137,000 b/d each month up to September 2026. But the group once again emphasised that the return of the cut production would be "gradual and flexible" and "adaptable to evolving conditions".
This leaves them room to pause or reverse their unwinding "subject to market conditions".
The decision comes after US president Donald Trump in January called on the alliance to "bring down the cost of oil" — something it could probably do by raising production. But the market faces an array of uncertainties, including the impact of Trump's tariff plans as well as his efforts to curtail Iran's and Venezuela's oil exports.
Opec also said that members that are required to compensate for past overproduction would frontload their plans. If implemented, this would offset some of the group's rise in output from April. Opec said the group's overproducers would submit updated compensation plans by 17 March and make this publicly available.
