What's likely this weekend
Two delegates say the major OPEC+ players are set to leave November crude quotas where they are. Although they have on paper undone 2023's supply curbs, the bloc headed by Saudi Arabia and Russia is expected to endorse leaving next month's targets as they are. The delegates requested anonymity because the talks are internal and ahead of a Sunday video call.
Why hikes have been mostly on paper
Although hostilities involving Iran have disrupted Middle East crude shipments, deliveries have begun to pick up, even as millions of barrels of the region's output remain offline. That has turned the target increases approved by OPEC and its allies since the conflict began into more of a formality than extra supply. The sequence of hikes has formally unwound last year's cutbacks, but only on paper.
Capacity constraints and the near-term plan
According to delegates, the group's plan holds off on restoring another slice of output that was halted in 2022 until at least year-end. Even if it wanted to, many OPEC+ members would struggle to restore earlier output because capacity has eroded over time from under-investment, sanctions, and other outages.
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What's next and why it matters for you
The assessment of members' production capacity is scheduled to wrap up this week, and its findings will guide OPEC+ policy for 2027. Oil ministers will discuss it at a formal meeting on Nov. 29. Requests for comment did not receive an immediate response from OPEC's Vienna secretariat or Saudi Arabia's energy ministry.
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