Lagos — The 14 member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, will meet in Vienna, Austria for a two-day conference beginning on Thursday, December 5, 2019.
OPEC ministers are expected to extend their supply pact at meetings on Thursday and Friday. Delegates said the producers could discuss deeper supply cuts amid forecasts of excess oil supply in 2020.
“The minimum is to extend,” said an OPEC delegate, quoted by Reuters.
OPEC oil output has fallen in November as Angolan production has slipped due to maintenance and Saudi Arabia has kept a lid on supply to support the market before the initial public offering (IPO) of state-owned Saudi Aramco.
On average, the 14-member OPEC pumped 29.57 million barrels per day, bpd, in the month – down 110,000 bpd from October’s revised figure, according to Reuters survey.
OPEC, Russia and other allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to reduce supply by 1.2 million bpd from Jan. 1. OPEC’s share of the cut is about 800,000 bpd, to be delivered by 11 members, with exemptions for Iran, Libya and Venezuela.
Oil has slipped to $63 a barrel after spiking to $72 following the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi oil plants. The current price is below the levels many OPEC countries need to balance their budgets and below the levels officials say they favour.
The 11 OPEC members bound by the agreement, which for now runs until March 2020, have easily exceeded the pledged cuts. Compliance has risen to 152% in November, the survey found, from 135% in October, although Iraq and Nigeria remain laggards among larger producers.