SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Wednesday he expects OPEC+ to agree on extending its current production policies over the short term, state news agency reported.
Abdul Jabbar told INA that Iraq’s stance would be aligned with the outcome of the next meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC ministers began talks at 1315 GMT on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
It will be followed on Thursday by a meeting of ministers from the broader OPEC+ alliance, which includes OPEC, Russia and others.
Shortly after the OPEC talks began, a delegate told Reuters that the group was not discussing changes to output policy for now.
Russia and Saudi Arabia, the biggest OPEC+ producers, had said ahead of this week’s meetings that there was no need for a knee-jerk reaction to amend policy.
Since August, the group has been adding an additional 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of output to global supply, as it gradually winds down record cuts agreed in 2020, when demand cratered because of the pandemic.
