By Ahmad Ghaddar and Olesya Astakhova LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Eight OPEC+ nations are leaning towards making another modest increase in oil output for December when they meet on Sunday as Saudi
OPEC+ Set to Consider Small Oil Output Increase for December
OPEC+ Output Decisions and Market Implications
By Ahmad Ghaddar and Olesya Astakhova
Recent Trends in Oil Production
LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Eight OPEC+ nations are leaning towards making another modest increase in oil output for December when they meet on Sunday as Saudi Arabia pushes to reclaim market share, four sources familiar with the talks said.
Challenges Faced by OPEC+ Members
OPEC+ has boosted output targets by a total of over 2.7 million barrels per day - or about 2.5% of global supply - in a series of monthly increases since April. That is just under half the 5.85 million bpd cumulative cuts in supply the group had agreed in preceding years.
Impact of Sanctions on Russia
The group was likely to agree on Sunday to increase December output targets by another 137,000 bpd, two of the four sources said, while the other two sources gave no estimate. All sources declined to be identified by name.
Saudi Arabia's Strategy
The producer group most recently decided to raise targets by 137,000 bpd for November.
Additional supply from OPEC+ helped drive oil prices to a five-month low on Oct. 20 on concern that a glut was building. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, imposed new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies last week, spurring a rally above $66 a barrel and easing investor worries about a glut.
The group has found the most recent monthly increases more difficult to agree because sanctions are making it difficult for Russia to find buyers for additional output.
Russia and Saudi Arabia, the two biggest OPEC+ producers, have over the past years sometimes disagreed on the size of output rises but ultimately found a compromise.
OPEC, the office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, and Saudi Arabia's government media office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Additional reporting by Maha El Dahan, Editing by Alex Lawler, Simon Webb and Conor Humphries)
