SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The OPEC+ alliance of oil producers will continue to restore supply to meet growing demand, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday.
Volatility on the oil market is not very high at the moment, Novak said on Russian state television, Reuters reported.
OPEC, Russia and allies, together called OPEC+, surprised the market December 2 when it stuck to plans to add 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) supply in January.
OPEC+ ministers are next scheduled to meet on Jan. 4, but the group indicated in a statement that they could meet again before then if the market situation demanded.
OPEC+ remains concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic could once again drive down demand, according to Reuters.
Surging infections have prompted renewed restrictions in Europe and the Omicron variant has already led to new clamp downs on some international travel.
OPEC+ has been gradually unwinding record cuts agreed last year when demand cratered due to the pandemic, slashing output by about 10 million bpd, or 10% of global supply. Those cuts have since been scaled back to about 3.8 million bpd.
But OPEC+ has regularly failed to meet its output targets, producing about 700,000 bpd less than planned in both September and October, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.
