Opec+ kept its oil production targets unchanged for November, extending the pause it started in October after six months of gradual increases.
The group's seven core members – Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Russia and Kazakhstan – decided during the meeting on Sunday to "maintain September 2026 required production for November 2026", a statement said.
The group finished unwinding 1.65 million barrels per day of voluntary cuts from 2023 in September. It is keeping a further two million bpd of cuts, agreed in 2022, in place until the end of the year. It is also reviewing members' production capacity to set quotas for 2027.
The seven Opec+ countries "will continue to hold monthly meetings to review market conditions", the statement said. The next meeting will be held on November 1.
The joint quotas for the seven members amounts to 31 million bpd for November. But most members are producing below their targets because of the war.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas, has been effectively shut since fighting between the US and Iran started on February 28.
Iran has said that the strait will not reopen until seven conditions are met, as indirect talks with the US stall and officials in Tehran prepare for the possibility of another round of fighting.
Tehran's lead negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the US had sent proposals through intermediaries that contradicted its leaders' public statements. However, he added, Iran’s position was “completely clear and definitive”.
Tehran has repeatedly demanded an end to the fighting, the lifting of a US naval blockade, the release of frozen assets and relief from sanctions.
Brent, the benchmark for two-thirds of the world's oil, settled nearly flat at $102.25 a barrel on Friday. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, shed 1.9 per cent to settle at $91.11 a barrel.
From last week's close, Brent slid nearly 2 per cent, while WTI gave up 1.4 per cent. Prices reached an intraday high of $126 a barrel in late April.
