Opec+ to hold urgent meeting today to finalise deal

Opec and non-Opec producers will hold an emergency video conference tonight to finalise a landmark two-year output restraint plan that was drafted late last week, according to four Opec sources.

Documents seen by Argus show that the group will meet at 18:00 Vienna time.

The meeting comes after Opec and its allies — known collectively as Opec+ — reached a conditional agreement in the early hours of 10 April to take a headline 10mn b/d off the market in May and June, moderating to 8mn b/d in the second half of the year and 6mn b/d in 2021 and early 2022.

The deal remained subject to approval from non-Opec producer Mexico, which rejected its 400,000 b/d share of the cut over the initial May-June period.

An emergency meeting of energy ministers of the G20 group of major economies ended later that day without delivering a concrete pledge on output reduction from countries outside the Opec+ group, or a resolution to the Mexico issue.

Also on 10 April, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said that the US agreed to help his country with its Opec+ commitment by cutting output on its behalf. Under this plan, Mexico would reduce its output by 100,000 b/d, while the US would lower its production by 250,000 b/d — which US president Donald Trump said was already being lost as a result of organic output declines due to the recent collapse in oil prices.

An Opec+ delegate on 11 April said that no breakdown of Mexico's cut obligations was discussed during the Opec+ meeting. Another Opec+ delegate today said that Mexico has yet to agree to the 400,000 b/d cut commitment, but that an agreement was still viable to finalise.

Saudi state-owned Aramco is unlikely to release its official May formula prices until Opec and allied producers have completed talks over their two-year output restraint plan, according to a source close to the matter.

By Ruxandra Iordache, Nader Itayim and Rowena Edwards