Russia intends to support a further increase in OPEC+ production at the group’s meeting next month, even as a new strain of the coronavirus raises concerns about demand, said officials familiar with the country’s oil policy.
As of now, Moscow believes it makes sense to raise OPEC+ output by 500,000 barrels a day in February, matching the hike already agreed for January, the officials said, asking not to be named because the information is confidential.
That would be the maximum supply increase allowed by the accord that emerged from the cartel’s difficult talks in early December. Other members of the group would need to agree for the output expansion to go ahead.
Brent dropped below $50 a barrel on Monday after the U.K. government introduced a full lockdown in London and the southeast of England as a more contagious strain of the coronavirus ran“out of control.”Some nations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have limited travel with the country. A new wave of movement restrictions may curb the recovery in global oil consumption.
