Date of next OPEC+ Monitoring Committee meeting revealed

Growth in oil demand in 2021 may be faster than expected, especially in the second half of the year, according to the report of the OPEC+ Ministerial Monitoring Committee following the February 3 meeting, Report informs, referring to TASS.

"The widespread availability of COVID vaccines around the world could lead to faster economic growth, increasing oil consumption, especially in the second half of 2021," the document says.

The committee acknowledges that ‘investor sentiment in the oil market has recently been very strongly fueled by expectations from vaccinations, monetary stimulus packages and the proactive stance of OPEC+ countries.’

The next meeting of the OPEC+ Monitoring Committee will be held on March 3.

The OPEC+ monitoring allowed a faster market recovery in the second half of the year amid vaccinations.

The OPEC+ countries expect a deficit of up to 1.1 million barrels per day in the oil market throughout 2021.

In January, the OPEC+ countries agreed on production cuts for February and March, and only Russia and Kazakhstan will slightly increase it. As a result, the overall reduction in the deal will soften to 7.125 million barrels per day in February and 7.05 million in March. The baseline for these reductions is production volume as of October 2018, and 11 million barrels per day for Russia and Saudi Arabia.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia, in these months, has been voluntarily reducing production by additional 1 million barrels per day compared to January. Several OPEC+ countries will also cut their production, and taking into account their share, the total reduction by January is 1.425 million barrels per day.