The joint ministerial monitoring committee of The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies (collectively Opec+) has asked member countries to maintain a status quo on their current production quotas.
The decision was conveyed by the JMMC during its 22nd meeting, which was held through a virtual conference.
The production quotas that are being asked to be maintained were agreed by the Opec+ member countries in June 2020.
Under the agreement, the countries were asked to cut their production by 9.7 million barrels per day to reach a production target of 7.7 million barrels per day starting from August, reported AFP.
Besides, member nations that did not meet their quota limits in the past were asked to make up for their surplus production.
The JMMC found that for August 2020, there was 102% conformity to the set crude oil production limits achieved by the participating OPEC and non-OPEC countries of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC).
According to OPEC, even Mexico as per the secondary sources had complied with the production targets.
During the meeting, the JMMC reiterated the critical significance of the OPEC+ countries in adhering to full conformity and compensating for the surplus volumes of oil produced as soon as possible.
Furthermore, it backed the appeal of various underperforming countries in the DoC about extending the compensation period till the end of this year. The JMMC recommended this to the OPEC+ Ministerial Meeting after pledging that the member countries will be compensated fully for their overproduction.
The committee said that this is crucial for the rebalancing efforts that are already in progress and for enabling long-term stability for the oil market.
OPEC JMMC asks members to take further measures when needed
OPEC stated: “The JMMC observed that the recovery has not been even across the world and an increase in COVID-19 cases has appeared in some countries.
“In the current environment, the JMMC emphasised the importance of being pro-active and pre-emptive and recommended that participating countries should be willing to take further necessary measures when needed.”
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia Minister of Energy Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak, who is the co-chair of the JMMC.
The OPEC+ joint technical committee and the JMMC will have their next meetings around mid-October 2020.
