The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting CountriesOPEC+ group recommended that no changes be made to oil production quotas.
The decision was not a surprise, with Putin and MBS having discussed OPEC+ cooperation just days earlier.
Uncertainties around Chinese demand and Russian supply in the coming months left OPEC+ with few options other than to wait and see.
The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the OPEC+ group recommended that no changes be made to the current oil production quotas during a meeting on Wednesday, as widely expected.
The members of the JMMC “reaffirmed their commitment to the DoC which extends to the end of 2023 as agreed in the 33rd OPEC and Non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) on 5th of October 2022,” OPEC said in a brief statement after the meeting.
The panel is meeting next on April 3, 2023.
The no-change in policy was widely expected by the market, considering the uncertainties in both supply and demand in the coming months. Analysts expected OPEC+ to adopt a wait-and-see approach amid significant uncertainties going forward.
Earlier this week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed OPEC+ cooperation on a phone call, according to various sources, with the focus on maintaining the stability of oil prices ahead of the virtual OPEC+ panel meeting today. Russian oil production has held up in spite of new Western sanctions and price caps, and three OPEC+ delegates have told Reuters that the Wednesday meeting was likely to conclude without any output policy changes.
