The Committee reviewed the monthly report prepared by its Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and developments in the global oil market since its last meeting on 19 October 2020, with particular focus on the prospects for the first half of 2021.

The Committee emphasized the ongoing positive contributions of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) in supporting a rebalancing of the global oil market in line with the historic decisions taken at the 10th (Extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on 12 April 2020 to adjust downwards overall crude oil production, and the unanimous decisions taken at the 179th Meeting of the OPEC Conference and the 11th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on 6 June 2020.

The Committee reviewed the crude oil production data for October 2020 and welcomed the positive performance in the overall conformity level for participating OPEC and non-OPEC Countries, at 101 per cent. The Committee noted that between May and October, participating OPEC and non-OPEC countries have contributed to reducing the global supply by approximately 1.6 billion barrels, including voluntary adjustments, and this has been key to the rebalancing of the market. Moreover, countries compensated a total of 768 tb/d to make up for previously overproduced volumes. This led to achieving a level of 99.5% of the production adjustment commitments since May.  

The Committee expressed its appreciation to the participating countries, particularly to the UAE and Angola, which have performed beyond expectation, while reiterating the critical importance of adhering to full conformity and compensating the overproduced volumes, in order to achieve the objective of market rebalancing and to avoid undue delay in the process.

The Committee noted the robust demand in Asia and the positive news of possible vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. These developments have been overshadowed by the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in major economies. The Committee noted that more stringent COVID-19 containment measures across continents, including full lockdowns, are impacting the oil demand rebound and that the underlying risks and uncertainties remain high.

All participating countries need to be vigilant, proactive and be prepared to act, when necessary, to the requirements of the market.

The Committee’s recommendations will be provided to 12th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, which is scheduled to take place by videoconference on 1 December 2020.

The Committee thanked the JTC and the OPEC Secretariat for their contributions to the meeting. The next meetings of the JTC and the JMMC are scheduled for 16 December and 17 December 2020, respectively.