RIYADH — OPEC+ countries have agreed to maintain oil output steady, sticking to the earlier decision to pause production hikes for the first quarter of 2026. Eight OPEC+ countries—Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman—held their virtual meeting on Sunday to review global market conditions and outlook. They reiterated their commitment to market stability on steady global economic outlook and current healthy oil market fundamentals as reflected in low inventories. The eight countries had reaffirmed their decision, taken on November 2, 2025, to pause output hikes in January, February and March 2026 due to relatively low demand in the northern hemisphere winter. They 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, the OPEC+ countries 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 eight 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. It is noteworthy that the OPEC+ members, which pump about half the world's oil, raised oil output targets by around 2.9 million barrels per day in 2025, equal to almost three percent of world oil demand, to regain market share.
