Opec+ agrees 400,000 b/d hike for March

Opec+ agrees 400,000 b/d hike for March

London, 2 February (Argus) — Opec+ ministers have agreed to press ahead with another 400,000 b/d increase in the group's crude output quota next month.

The producer alliance blitzed through a virtual meeting in just over a quarter of an hour to decide the March target. The meeting comes against a background of oil prices hovering at seven-year highs and heightened confidence that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 will have a milder impact on fuel consumption than initially expected. Opec forecasts that global oil demand will grow by 4.2mn b/d this year, while the IEA is projecting 3.3mn b/d of demand growth in 2022.

A recent rally in oil prices has seen Ice Brent futures exceed $90/bl on the back of geopolitical tensions including protests in Kazakhstan, disruption to the Iraq-Ceyhan crude pipeline, repeated missile attacks on the UAE from Yemen, and Russian troops amassing on the border with Ukraine.