OPEC+ REJECTS CALLS TO RAISE OIL PRODUCTION
LONDON—Major oil producers agreed Thursday to continue gradually raising output despite pressure from the United States and other big consumer nations to open up the taps much more decisively amid soaring prices.
The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their 10 allies reconfirmed a July decision to gradually step up production each month in a brief meeting via videoconference.
The powerful producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the so-called Opec+ will add 400,000 barrels per day in December, they said.
The decision aimed “to ensure a stable and a balanced oil market, the efficient and secure supply to consumers,” the group said in a statement.
The Opec+ nations also pledged “to continue to adopt a proactive and transparent approach which has provided stability to oil markets.”
Opec+ slashed production steeply last year as the pandemic hit markets, but has eased output cuts this year as the global economy slowly recovers.
With prices for the benchmark WTI contract reaching $85 last week, the highest since 2014, US President Joe Biden appealed on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome over the weekend to Opec to pump more.
The White House was disappointed with the Opec+ decision, warning that the global economic recovery is being imperiled by a mismatch between supply and demand of oil.
“Opec+ seems unwilling to use the capacity and power it has now at this critical moment of global recovery for countries around the world,” said a National Security Council spokesperson.
Other oil-consuming nations, such as India and Japan, have also called for more output to lower prices.
But Saudi Energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who chairs the Opec group, told reporters after the meeting: “We still believe what we are doing is the right thing.”
Analysts had widely expected the group to stick by its July decision.