Saudi Gazette report
VIENNA — The OPEC+ countries have approved a mechanism to assess members’ maximum production capacity to be used for setting output quotas from 2027. The eight countries, which met virtually on Sunday to review global market conditions and outlook, also agreed to maintain group-wide oil output quotas for 2026, OPEC said in a statement after the meeting.

The OPEC+ countries—Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman—have an agreement in principle to maintain a pause in their output hikes for the first quarter of 2026. OPEC+ has paused oil output hikes for the first quarter of 2026 after releasing some 2.9 million barrels per day into the market since April 2025. The group still has about 3.24 million barrels per day of output cuts in place, representing about 3 percent of global demand, and the Sunday meeting did not alter those.

The eight countries reiterated that the 1.65 million barrels per day may be returned in part or in full subject to evolving market conditions and in a gradual manner. The countries will continue to closely monitor and assess market conditions. In their continuous efforts to support market stability, they reaffirmed the importance of adopting a cautious approach and retaining full flexibility to continue pausing or reverse the additional voluntary production adjustments, including the previously implemented voluntary adjustments of the 2.2 million barrels per day announced in November 2023.

The OPEC+ countries reiterated their collective commitment to achieve full conformity with the Declaration of Cooperation, including the additional voluntary production adjustments that will be monitored by the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC). They also confirmed their intention to fully compensate for any overproduced volume since January 2024.