OPEC + meeting may take place later this week

Informal negotiations between the parties of the OPEC + deal continue, and a meeting of the cartel may take place at the end of the week, a source in an OPEC delegation told RIA Novosti, Report informs.

“They (informal negotiations) have not stopped. As for the meeting, the participants favor the early resumption of discussions, with a high degree of probability it can take place at the end of the week. I think they will reach a consensus. It is a common market, the problems are common, and they must be solved,” the source said.

At the same time, according to the source, the United Arab Emirates’ withdrawal from the OPEC + alliance is not on the agenda, as the deal’s participants are looking for a solution.

“Informal negotiations take place every day. The process itself (negotiation) does not stop. Yesterday (Monday) night, both the OPEC leadership and the leading market participants – Russia and Saudi Arabia – contacted the parties to the deal, and various options are being worked out,” the source said.

The next round of OPEC + talks, expected to take place on Monday, was canceled after consultations, and a new date has not yet been announced. At the same time, the alliance’s meetings on July 1 and 2 did not bring results due to the position of the UAE on the recommendation of the OPEC + ministerial monitoring committee to extend the oil deal until the end of 2022.

The UAE is opposed to deciding on this issue now, ten months before the official deadline for the deal. Firstly, the Emirates does not see the need to decide on the matter so soon, and secondly, the Gulf country insists on increasing its base production level in this case. At the same time, the UAE supports further mitigation of OPEC + restrictions in August-December.

On Sunday evening, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the OPEC + countries must renew the agreement. He also explained that the alliance will return to its current conditions without extending the deal, according to which oil production in August will not increase.

OPEC + has cut its production by 9.7 million barrels per day since May last year due to a drop in oil demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. As the situation stabilized, the restrictions were adjusted, and as of July 2021, they are lowered to 5.76 million barrels per day. The baseline for all is October 2018, and for Russia and Saudi Arabia – 11 million barrels per day.