OPEC+ maintains modest increase in oil output

WASHINGTON: OPEC and allied oil-producing countries have decided to maintain the amount of oil they pump to the world even as the new Omicron variant casts a spikey shadow of uncertainty over the global economic recovery from the pandemic. Officials from OPEC countries, led by Saudi Arabia, and their allies, led by Russia, voted to stick with a pre-Omicron pattern of steady, monthly increases in oil releases — a pace that has frustrated the US and other nations as gasoline prices rise.