OPEC meeting to readjust February production

Members of the OPEC group of oil producers and their partners were to meet via video conference on Monday to decide production levels for February, which it hopes to continue boosting.

The OPEC+ ministerial meeting comes after the COVID- 19 pandemic tanked the market for crude in 2020.

Despite a slight recovery of prices toward the end of 2020, the 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, and their 10 allies, led by Russia, are still suffering under a highly volatile market.

After their last video conference summit, held from November 30 to December 3, the members agreed to raise production levels by half a million barrels per day in January.

At the same meeting, OPEC+ agreed to meet at the beginning of each month to decide on any adjustments to production volumes for the following month.

That agreement “paved the way for a gradual return of 2 million barrels per day to the market over the coming months,” OPEC’s general secretary, Mohammed Barkindo, said Sunday.

OPEC members typically meet twice a year at the cartel’s headquarters in Vienna, but in 2020, summits were scheduled more frequently to maintain a strong influence on the oil market amidst the pandemic.

Despite demand remaining uncertain, analysts have said that OPEC+ demonstrated that it can manage the market as the North Sea Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate crude both ended the week around the $ 50 per barrel level.