OPEC, allies strike deal for lower production hike from January

OPEC, allies strike deal for lower production hike from January

Members of the OPEC group of oil producers struck a deal to increase production over coming months, but by less than anticipated in their previous accord.

"It has been decided to increase the amount of oil offered to the market from January 2021, with a total increase from OPEC+ countries of 500,000 barrels per day," the Kazakh energy ministry said in a statement at the end of video-conference of countries in the OPEC+ club.

Supreme Petroleum Council has approved the budget for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

The previous agreement entailed a cut of 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) and had been scheduled to be eased to 5.8 million bpd on January 1.

The video-conference meeting of the OPEC+ grouping was pushed back from Tuesday and comes after three days of inconclusive discussions among the 13 members of OPEC proper.

Observers say the postponement pointed to an agreement being harder to reach than initially thought.

The meeting was originally scheduled for 1300 GMT but eventually started almost two hours later.

The first wave of the coronavirus pandemic sent oil demand -- and prices -- plummeting in the spring, with the benchmark American contract even going into negative territory for the first time in history.

After tough negotiations