Opec+ delays upcoming policy meeting: Update

Market: Crude oil
22/11/23

The upcoming Opec+ ministerial meeting that was scheduled to be held in Vienna on 26 November has been pushed back to 30 November, the Opec secretariat said today.

"The 187th Meeting of the Opec Conference, the 51st Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the 36th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM), originally planned for 25 and 26 November 2023, have been rescheduled to Thursday, 30 November 2023," Opec said.

The secretariat did not give a reason for the delay and did not specify where the meeting would be held.

The new date of the meeting coincides with the start of the Cop 28 UN climate summit in Dubai which several Opec+ ministers are set to attend. Some delegates have suggested the meeting could now be held virtually.

Opec+ ministers are set to discuss the alliance's production policy for 2024 against a backdrop of falling oil prices in recent weeks. Opec+ is currently implementing a series of production cuts which it started in November 2022. As things stand, the alliance's existing cuts are set to continue until the end of 2024.

But a key question is whether Saudi Arabia will extend a unilateral 1mn b/d production cut into 2024.

Front month Ice Brent futures fell by around $3/bl to around $78.5/bl following the announcement, possibly reflecting concerns of disagreements among members related to policy direction and compliance with existing cuts.

Another source of contention relates to an Opec+ decision in June to lower the production quotas of some struggling African members such as Nigeria and Angola from 2024. The upcoming meeting was set to finalise quotas for next year but sources say that these discussions have so far proven difficult.

By Aydin Calik, Nader Itayim, Bachar Halabi

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