OPEC+ postpones meeting to end oil output impasse

OPEC+ postpones meeting to end oil output impasse

LONDON: After failing last week to agree on crude oil output levels, the 23 members of the OPEC+ group of producers called off a meeting planned yesterday to overcome the impasse, a source close to the alliance told AFP. No new date was given for them to reconvene. Since May, the group has raised oil output little by little, after slashing it more than a year ago when the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand.

At stake is the current proposal that would see the world's leading oil producers raise their output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month from August to December. That would add a further two million bpd to markets by the end of the year, helping to fuel a global economic recovery as the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control.

But that plan risks being delayed or even failing over a further proposal to extend the cap on incremental increases through to the end of 2022. "The market is now fearing several scenarios," said Bjarne Schieldrop, a Norway-based analyst with SEB. In one, there is no deal and no increase in production, sending oil prices shooting up, he said. Another sees a "free-for-all (in) production and a collapse in