OPEC plus to keep oil output steady for Q1 2025

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC plus, agreed Thursday to keep oil production at the current levels for the first quarter of 2025.

In a statement on the OPEC website, eight OPEC plus countries -- Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman -- said they would extend voluntary output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), originally announced in November 2023, to the end of March 2025.

These voluntary cuts will be "gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026 to support market stability," but the monthly increase can be paused or reversed as per market conditions, according to the statement.

The eight countries will also prolong their voluntary production cuts of 1.65 million bpd, first announced in April 2023, to the end of 2026.

Oil ministers from the eight countries talked on the sidelines of a virtual OPEC plus ministerial meeting on Thursday.

In a separate statement, OPEC said OPEC plus countries agreed at the ministerial meeting to extend the level of overall crude production to the whole year of 2026.

OPEC plus has made the decisions to achieve and sustain a stable oil market, and to provide long-term guidance and transparency for the market, and in line with the approach of being precautious, proactive, and pre-emptive, according to the statement.

At the ministerial meeting, OPEC plus countries also reiterated the importance of adhering to full conformity with production quotas and the group's compensation mechanism.

Oil prices have generally trended downward in recent weeks due to concerns over slowing global demand and increased supply from producers outside the OPEC plus alliance. International crude benchmark Brent has traded slightly above 70 U.S. dollars per barrel for the past weeks, down from over 80 dollars in July.

Since August, OPEC has lowered its forecasts for global oil demand growth in both 2024 and 2025 for four consecutive months, as detailed in its monthly market reports.

The next OPEC plus ministerial meeting is scheduled for May 28, 2025, to review production policy. However, the group's Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee retains the authority to convene additional meetings as needed to respond to market developments.

OPEC plus to keep oil output steady for Q1 2025

The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting concluded in east China's Suzhou on Saturday, yielding fruitful results and laying significant groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

The trade ministers' meeting focused on "building an open and predictable regional and multilateral economic and trade order" and "fostering new engines of innovative and dynamic trade and investment cooperation."

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao briefed the media on the meeting's outcomes at a press conference.

Wang said the meeting issued a joint statement titled the Suzhou Statement, and approved the latest edition of the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services.

All parties agreed to advance policy innovation and reform in services trade, build an open and predictable investment environment, improve regional trade facilitation and supply chain resilience, strengthen standards coordination, and enhance intellectual property protection, Wang told the media.

He also said that substantial progress was made on a framework document for regional digital trade cooperation and the ministers emphasized promoting inclusive AI development, strengthening AI-related trade, and bridging the digital divide to ensure shared benefits from digital transformation.

The minister noted that the outcomes of the meeting demonstrated strong cooperation willingness, highlighted an innovation-oriented approach, and reflected inclusiveness and shared benefits. "The fact that Asia-Pacific economies can come together, uphold the original aspiration of promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation while supporting economic growth and prosperity, and engage in in-depth discussions on the important issue of 'where multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation is headed,' fully demonstrates that open regionalism and true multilateralism enjoy broad support, and that mutual success and shared development serve the fundamental interests of all economies," Wang said.

2026 APEC trade ministers' meeting concludes with fruitful results