OPEC cancels Joint Technical Committee meeting in March

The meeting of the OPEC+ Technical Committee (JTC) in the webinar mode, scheduled for March 18, has been canceled.

According to TASS, there will be no JTC, the source said.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia refused to take part in the meeting.

As previously reported, OPEC sent out invitations to the JTC participants on Wednesday evening. The meeting was supposed to be held in video conference mode due to the recommendations of the Austrian authorities to limit mass events to fight the spread of coronavirus.

After the unsuccessful negotiations between OPEC+ on March 6, when Russia and Saudi Arabia could not agree to extend production cuts after March, OPEC doubted the need for holding technical meetings in the third month of 2020. However, Russia and Kazakhstan later announced the need for professional consultations, as the OPEC+ cooperation charter continues to work.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak previously stated that Moscow did not agree with the cartel’s proposal during the March 6 meeting to further cut production amidst the spread of coronavirus. Russia proposed to maintain the existing conditions, while Saudi Arabia suggested a further production cut.

As a result, production restrictions in member countries of the former alliance are to be lifted on April 1, and it has already caused a market crash, as the oil price drop reached 30 percent.