OPEC Puts off Plan on Oil Output Cuts

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday failed to agree on whether or not to keep crude oil output at current levels or open the taps for a further easing of production quotas by roughly two million barrels between now and December.

Earlier, there were expectations that the cartel could boost production output by another 400,000 barrels beginning in August, an increase seen as likely to be easily absorbed by the market amid expectations for rising demand.
It was gathered that the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMCC) failed to come to a conclusion on the recommendations and will meet again today to iron out the rough edges.
At the inconclusive meeting, the OPEC+ ministerial committee had proposed the planned increase to the wider group, but a disagreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the biggest producers in the OPEC+ alliance, remained largely unresolved.

Last year, following the death-blow, dealt on the oil market by the COVID-19 pandemic, OPEC+ resolved to cut output by almost 10 million bpd from May 2020, with plans to phase out the curbs by the end of April 2022.
Before the deferment of the meeting, oil prices reacted with Brent crude trading above $75 a barrel, close to a two-and-a-half-year high as the policy from August to December was being awaited.
While the full house decided to shift a definitive decision on the matter till today, OPEC had earlier finished its meeting just before an OPEC+ ministerial committee met after that, before the inconclusive one by OPEC+ ministers. More at: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/07/02/opec-defers-decision-on-oil-output-cuts/