OPEC+ maintained its production increase agreement, increasing quotas by 432,000 barrels per day from May 1. This in line with 400,000 barrels per day increases in monthly production quotas taking place since August 2021. Since that time producers have not actually been raising production in line with the rises in production quotas, as prices have become increasingly volatile due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Following the conclusion of the 27th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, held via videoconference on March 31, it was noted that continuing oil market fundamentals and the consensus on the outlook pointed to a well-balanced market, and that current volatility is not caused by fundamentals, but by ongoing geopolitical developments,” noted the cartel in the press release following Thursday’s meeting.
The cartel also replaced the IEA by Wood MacKenzie and Rystad Energy as secondary source of information.
The news comes as President Joe Biden announced that the US would be releasing 1 million barrels per day of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve in order to bring soaring gasoline prices under control.
