London — OPEC+ is discussing a delay in a planned output increase next month as oil prices hit their lowest in 9 months, three sources from the producer group told Reuters on Wednesday.
Last week, the group looked set to proceed with a 180,000 barrel per day (bpd) hike in October, but market volatility from oil facility shutdowns in Libya and a weak demand outlook have raised concern within the group, one of the sources said.
“There are suggestions to delay the increase,” one of the sources said. Another said a delay was looking “highly possible” at this stage.
Eight OPEC+ members are scheduled to raise output by 180,000 bpd in October as part of a plan to begin unwinding their most recent layer of output cuts of 2.2 million bpd while keeping other cuts in place until the end of next year.
*Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler & Olesya Astakhova; editing: Louise Heavens – Reuters
