The Commodities Feed: OPEC+ sticks to its plan – MENAFN.COM

The Commodities Feed: OPEC+ sticks to its plan – MENAFN.COM

ICE Brent jumped around 2. 5% yesterday to settle at a new recent high of US$81. 26/bbl after OPEC+ agreed to continue with 400Mbbls/d of supply increment for November. The market was worried about a bigger output increase for next month on account of the ongoing energy crunch in Asia and Europe. OPEC+ has decided to continue with the existing agreement for now, based on the 'current oil market fundamentals and the consensus on oil outlook'. One of the major rationales for the steady course of action for OPEC+ could be that crude oil prices have not increased as much as natural gas or coal over the recent months and demand spill from natural gas/coal to crude oil could be rather limited. Increasing oil output at this juncture may not be helpful in balancing the oil market and could weigh on oil prices in the immediate term. OPEC+ is scheduled to meet next on 4 November to decide on December output. In the US, Royal Dutch Shell has restarted operations at its 100Mbbls/d Olympus oil & gas platform on the US Gulf Coast after the company completed repair works following the damages caused by Hurricane Ida around a month ago.