Oil price falls to $81 per barrel as OPEC postpones meeting to Nov 30

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has postponed its meetings originally scheduled to hold on November 25 and 26, 2023. 

In a notice on its website, OPEC said the meeting will now hold on November 30, 2023.

“[The] 187th Meeting of the OPEC Conference, the 51st Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the 36th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM), originally planned for 25 and 26 November 2023, have been rescheduled to Thursday, 30 November 2023,” the statement reads. 

Following the postponement, Brent crude, the global oil price benchmark, fell 0.64 percent to $81.40 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate dropped 0.58 percent to $76.65 per barrel. 

At its previous ministerial meeting in June 2023, OPEC and its allies, called OPEC+, decided to extend the current voluntary cuts until the end of 2024.

The oil cartel also reduced Nigeria’s production level to 1.38 million bpd, from the current 1.74 million bpd.

The adjustment takes effect from January 2024.

Meanwhile, the oil cartel also reduced the combined production level to 40.463 million bdp from January to December 2024 — including 24.994 million bpd for OPEC member countries, and 15.469 million bpd for non-OPEC member countries.

This is a 3.39 million bpd reduction from the 43.856 million bpd in the current production target of November 2022 to December 2023.