OPEC+ raises oil production again for October

The OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed today to a new increase in crude oil production for October, of 137,000 barrels per day.

Despite the increase in production, it was lower than in recent months due to the weakening of global demand.

“Given a stable global economic outlook and solid market fundamentals, reflected in low crude oil inventories, the eight participating countries have decided to apply a production adjustment (increase) of 137,000 barrels per day,” the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in a statement.

This is the seventh increase since April, when they increased production by 137,000 barrels per day, then surprised by tripling the monthly increase (up to 411,000 bd) in May, June and July, to accelerate it again in August and September (548,000 bd)

With this new action, OPEC+ has increased its production by 2.6 mbd since April, around 2.5% of global demand, with the aim of strengthening its market share.

The decision was taken in a teleconference by the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.

These eight key OPEC+ countries have thus reversed the production cuts they voluntarily implemented in 2023.

Analysts see this policy as a shift in OPEC+ strategy, driven primarily by Saudi Arabia, toward regaining market share by assuming lower prices, rather than supporting prices through sharp cuts in production.