LONDON
\nOPEC+ agreed on Sunday a fourth increase in its oil output targets in as many \u200cmonths, even though the U.S. war with Iran is still preventing several of the group\u2019s members from pumping more.
\nThe war has cut oil flows via the Strait of Hormuz, creating the world\u2019s biggest-ever supply crisis as key OPEC+ members including Saudi Arabia have been unable to supply customers in \u200bfull since the end of February. The crisis for OPEC+ deepened when the United Arab Emirates left the Organization \u200bof the Petroleum Exporting Countries after almost 60 years.
\nSeven core members of OPEC+, which groups OPEC \u2060and allied producers including Russia, have increased their output quotas from April to June by almost 600,000 barrels per day.
\nIn \u200breality, the group\u2019s production has collapsed due to export cuts by Gulf members, averaging 33.19 million bpd in April compared with 42.77 \u200bmillion in February, according to OPEC figures.
\nOn Sunday, the seven members decided to increase targets by 188,000 bpd from July, OPEC said in a statement.
\nThis is the same as the June hike, which was adjusted down from monthly increases of 206,000 bpd in May and April to \u200btake into account the UAE exit.
\n\u201cAn OPEC+ production increase means very little while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed,\u201d said Jorge \u200bLeon, an analyst at Rystad and a former OPEC official.
\n\u201cWhen the Strait of Hormuz reopens, the market could move very quickly from fear \u200cof shortage \u2060to fear of surplus.\u201d
\nOn Friday, oil prices fell to around $93 a barrel as traders gained confidence that renewed conflict between the U.S. and Iran was growing less likely. Prices were close to $72 before the war began.
\nOPEC+ ALMOST DONE WITH UNWINDING 2023 OUTPUT CUT
\nThe seven countries are increasing production as part of the gradual unwinding of a 1.65 million bpd production cut that the group, which \u200bat the time included UAE, \u200bagreed in 2023.
\nFrom July, the \u2060seven have about 567,000 bpd of the original cut to return to the market, taking into account the UAE exit from May 1, according to Reuters calculations.
\nThat would mean the rest \u200bof the cut will be unwound by the end of September should OPEC+ stick to \u200bmonthly hikes of \u2060about 188,000 bpd for August and September.
\nThe seven of 21 OPEC+ members who met on Sunday are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Oman. In recent years, only the seven plus the UAE when it was a member have been involved in the \u2060group\u2019s output \u200bpolicy decisions.
\nThree other OPEC and OPEC+ meetings, including one of all OPEC+ \u200bministers, were also scheduled for Sunday. The meeting of all OPEC+ ministers is not expected to make any changes to group-wide output policy, OPEC+ sources said \u200bearlier on Sunday.
\nReporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Olesya Astakhova Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Alex Lawler; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Tomasz Janowski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON OPEC+ agreed on Sunday a fourth increase in its oil output targets in as many \u200cmonths, even though the U.S. war with Iran is still preventing several of the group\u2019s members from pumping more. The war has cut oil flows via the Strait of Hormuz, creating the world\u2019s biggest-ever supply crisis as key OPEC+ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n