Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and an alliance of other top oil producers in an online ministerial meeting on Tuesday decided to stick to plans for a phased easing of oil production restrictions from May to July, Reuters news agency reports.
The group known as OPEC+ decided to stick to policies broadly agreed at a previous April 1 meeting of the group, Reuters cites the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying after the talks.
He said the next OPEC+ ministerial meeting was scheduled for June 1 to review output levels for July and August. An OPEC+ statement also confirmed the June 1 date for the next ministerial meeting.
OPEC+, which is responsible for more than a third of global crude oil production, has cut production by around 8 million barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to over 8% of global demand. The reduction also includes a 1 million bpd voluntary cut by Saudi Arabia.
At the April 1 meeting, the group agreed to bring 2.1 million bpd back to the market from May to July, easing cuts to 5.8 million bpd.
In a report by OPEC+ experts, the group expects global oil demand in 2021 would increase by 6 million bpd.
But the group noted that, even though more than 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered globally, it was concerned that surges in new virus cases in India, Brazil and Japan might derail recovering demand for crude oil.