OPEC+ producers will stick with plans to ease oil production cuts despite a global spike in COVID-19 infections, according to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. He said that the group remained optimistic on raising production gradually as planned despite a new wave of coronavirus outbreak. OPEC+ plans to relax its coordinated supply cuts by 2 million bpd starting from January from 7.7 million bpd currently.
Novak also added that the world’s natural gas consumption is expected to decline by as much as 6% this year before recovering to 2019’s levels in 2022. The International Energy Agency on Wednesday said producers’ efforts to balance the market were under threat from the second wave of COVID-19 which can slow fuel demand. Some analysts also question the higher expectations on production as they expect that global oil oversupply is far from over.
