Dubai/London — OPEC said on Wednesday cooperation and dialogue within the wider OPEC+ producer alliance will continue, after OPEC member Angola last month said it would quit, and that it plans a Feb. 1 meeting to review implementation of its latest oil output cut.
Continued cooperation within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia will benefit “all producers, consumers and investors, as well as the global economy at large,” OPEC said in a statement.
Angola said on Dec. 21 that it will leave OPEC from this month, a decision that prompted a drop in oil prices and that some analysts said raised questions about the unity of both OPEC and the wider OPEC+ alliance.
The OPEC statement made no mention of Angola but said OPEC members were united.
“OPEC member-countries re-affirm their steadfast commitment to the shared objectives of unity and cohesion both within the organization, and with the non-OPEC producing countries participating in the DoC,” it said, using OPEC+’s formal name the Declaration of Cooperation.
Oil rose about 3% on Wednesday with Brent crude exceeding $78 a barrel after supply disruption in Libya’s top oilfield. Still, Brent is down from near $98 in September, in part because of doubts about OPEC+’s cohesion.
Prices “are trading around these low levels because the market is well-supplied and cracks have appeared in the OPEC+ alliance, creating uncertainty around its output cuts,” said Craig Erlam, analyst at brokerage OANDA.
OPEC+ is making a further round of voluntary oil output cuts totaling about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first quarter of 2024, adding to earlier reductions announced in various steps since late 2022, to support the market.
The group will hold a virtual meeting of its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) on Feb. 1, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.
This panel, which brings together leading countries within the alliance including Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, usually meets every two months and can call for a full meeting of OPEC+ if it considers that warranted.
*Maha El Dahan & Alex Lawler, Enas Alashray, editing: Tomasz Janowski, Mark Potter & Barbara Lewis – Reuters
