The big oil producing group called OPEC+ is expected to keep oil production where it is right now and not raise it in March. This comes from reports saying most members will stick with the pause that’s already in place. Prices for crude oil have been rising lately and this is one reason they are choosing to wait.
Oil prices have gone up by about 8 percent this month and have climbed above $66 per barrel. The rise in price has happened even though some people thought there might be too much oil in the market. One reason for the higher prices is that Kazakhstan’s big oil fields have been producing a lot less than normal.
Eight major oil producers in OPEC+ are going to meet on February 1 to talk about what to do next. These countries include Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, and Oman. They together are responsible for nearly half of all the oil produced in the world.
Before this, they agreed to raise how much oil they planned to pump into the market by almost 2.9 million barrels per day between April and December last year. That is almost 3 percent of what the world uses daily. But because demand forecasts looked weak, they decided to pause any new increases in January, February, and March.
The pause was meant to prevent too much oil from flooding the market and pushing prices down. Now, the meeting on February 1 will be an important chance to look at current demand and decide if they should restart production increases later in the year or keep holding steady.
Oil output in Venezuela is also expected to recover slowly. Experts say Venezuela needs a lot of investment just to reach even 1.4 million barrels per day. The situation has been complicated by political issues, attacks, and technical problems that have reduced how much oil the country can produce.
In Kazakhstan, problems at the Tengiz oil field meant production stayed far below normal for part of January, and this helped lift prices. Other issues like bad weather in parts of the United States have also cut oil output, and tensions between the US and Iran are making traders nervous, which keeps prices higher.
