Crude prices recorded stability in the opening session of the week today, Monday, the fourth of October, with the opening of the European markets, where American crude (NYMEX) is trading at a slight increase of 0.07% and is trading at levels of $75.93 a barrel, while Brent crude is trading at levels of $79.33 a barrel, an increase of about 0.06%.
Amid anticipation in the markets for the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its independent producing allies outside the organization, led by Russia, to be held today, Monday.
The last organization meeting in early September, OPEC + maintained its policy of gradually restoring supplies to the market and adding 400,000 barrels per day to the market, starting from next October and continuing until April of 2022 at the very least, to phase out 5.8 million barrels of the current cuts.
Since the September meeting, crude prices have recorded increases of more than 8%, supported by high demand and a scarcity of supply from supply disruptions in the US Gulf of Mexico affected by Hurricane Ida and Nicholas and the exit of a large part of US production from service, in addition to the gas crisis and its price increase with the approaching winter season in Europe, where oil is considered One of the most important alternatives to solving heating problems and relatively cheaper power generation, the decline in US stocks, and the decline in expectations that Iranian oil will return to the market at least until the end of the year
These strong rises in crude prices and high expectations that crude prices will reach levels of 90 dollars per barrel before the end of the year have put pressure on some oil-producing countries, especially the United States of America, as the global inflationary environment does not need more crude hikes.
With the pressure of the United States of America on OPEC +, four OPEC sources showed at the end of last week, Friday, in addition to reports from Bloomberg Agency, that the organization is considering changing its current agreement to increase production and add and pump more production, which may reach 800,000 barrels at the organization’s meeting today, Monday.
The quantity of production reduction for the month of October was agreed upon in advance in the September meeting by 400,000 barrels. Therefore, in the event that the agreement was changed at today’s meeting, the closest increase would be in the month of next November.
The importance of today’s meeting stems from the silence of OPEC officials and members and the absence of statements until the moment. The most important question for today remains whether the organization will change its production policy at today’s meeting, or will it adhere to the previous agreement in July.