By Adedapo Adesanya
The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, led by Russia are scheduled to hold an online meeting today to discuss compliance with their agreed output cuts and demand trends amid falling oil prices and a faltering economic recovery outlook.
The group, known as OPEC+, is expected to keep their current output reduction target of 7.7 million barrels per day or around 8 per cent of global demand.
Despite recent troubles facing the oil market, they are likely to recommend new measures but will press laggards such as Iraq, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to cut more barrels to compensate for overproduction.
The JMMC meeting is expected to start at 1200 GMT (1 pm Nigerian Time), OPEC+ sources said.
OPEC+ producers have been reducing production since January 2017 to help support prices and reduce global oil stockpiles. They increased their cuts to a record 9.7 million barrels per day from May to July after demand plunged in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
OPEC+ reached 101 per cent conformity with its pledge to remove 7.7 million barrels per day of production from the market in August, largely from an October 2018 baseline, according to three group delegates.
The 13-member OPEC members participating in the agreement were 102 per cent compliant with their obligations last month, and their Non-OPEC counterparts met 99 per cent of their commitments, another source reportedly said.
Dipo Olowookere