The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allied producers reached a consensus on Thursday on extending the current crude oil output plan and raising their production by 400,000 b/d for December.

Iran PressEurope: The 23 members of the OPEC and non-OPEC coalition, known as OPEC+, made an agreement during the 22nd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, held via video conference on Thursday, to add a further 400,000 b/d to their crude oil output despite pressures by the US President, Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, the group agreed to hold the 23rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on December 2.

OPEC and its allies cut their crude oil output by a record amount in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown measures decreased fuel demand.

The coalition reduced its crude oil production by 9.7 million b/d in May 2020, then eased cuts as oil demand recovered.

OPEC-plus slashed output by 9.7 million b/d last year. More than 5 million b/d of that remained offline at the start of this month.

OPEC researchers said in October they expected global oil consumption would grow by 5.8 million b/d in 2021 and another 4.2 million b/d next year, reaching an average of about 100 million b/d in 2022.

That would put a demand on par with 2019 levels, before the pandemic. Depending on how global demand ebbs and flows, however, they said the OPEC-plus output plan would balance supply and demand needs at some point next year, potentially before spring.

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