January 2022 will mark the five-year anniversary of the implementation of Opec+ output cuts. This deal, which came into force back in January 2017, saw the newly-formed alliance agree to cut for a six-month period that could be extended for another six-months (MEES, 2 December 2016). Nearly five years later, cuts have essentially been in force ever since, with the exception of the April 2020 breakdown.
Under the current plan, Opec+ has agreed to gradually unwind its cuts in the coming months in order to phase them out entirely by the end of 2022 (MEES, 23 July). The group is currently holding back 4.96mn b/d of crude oil production, and has agreed to ease this to 4.56mn b/d for October. With Brent briefly breaking $80/B this week for the first time since October 2018, Opec+ is under pressure to agree to taper further to 3.76mn b/d when it meets on 4 October, if not to ease the cuts by more. (CONTINUED - 849 WORDS)
