Oil cartel OPEC and some allies such as Russia have decided to slightly increase oil production in January. 500 000 barrels may be pumped daily from January onwards, despite the fact that the demand for oil is still under pressure due to less demand due to the crisis. A monthly review will then be undertaken.

After the oil market collapsed in March, OPEC and Russia, also known as OPEC+, agreed to reduce oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day. Over the past few months, this has gradually been relaxed, so that 7.7 million barrels per day are now being produced less than before the agreements.

According to the April agreements, further relaxation would take place in January. In the midst of a second lockdown in large parts of Europe, Saudi Arabia wanted that relaxation to be postponed for three months. Russia and the United Arab Emirates in particular did not want it. The expansion of production, which has now been agreed, is less than what was originally planned.

Because of the disagreement, the OPEC+ meeting was postponed for a few days. it was supposed to take place on Tuesday, but the oil-producing countries needed more time to reach a compromise.