OPEC+ maintains plan for gradual production hike from May

LONDON — The 13 members of the Organisation of the Petroleum exporting Countries (OPEC) and 10 other oil-producing countries, including Russia, said on Tuesday they would stick to an agreement for progressive production increases over three months from May given current stable prices and upbeat demand forecasts.

"We have examined the market situation and again have confirmed the decisions which were taken a month ago," Alexander Novak, the Russian deputy prime minister whose portfolio includes energy, told Rossiya 24 television following a ministerial meeting, confirming a decision the market had priced in.

"Market prices are currently more or less stable," he added. "We hope this trend continues through to year's end."

At its previous meeting at the start of April the alliance had decided to increase production by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, as much again in June and then by an additional 450,000bpd in July.

OPEC said the members of the OPEC+ alliance, formed in 2016, had agreed on the progressive increase in highlighting what it termed the importance of rebalancing the global oil market following last year's downward adjustment of output as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alliance members are currently leaving around seven million barrels of potential output a day in the ground in order not to flood a market struggling with the economic fallout of the pandemic.

The alliance, which accounts for approximately a third of global oil production, announced it would meet again in June to review output for July and August.

It noted ongoing concerns over rising COVID-19 cases not least in India, which before the virus hit was consuming more than 5 million bpd, third only to the US and China, according to BP data.