According to the Shana correspondent, 23 OPEC Plus oil producers at today's meeting (Thursday, April 1) are scheduled to discuss the group’s output in the following months behind closed doors after the speeches of Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and OPEC Chairman and Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum of Angola Diamantino Pedro Azevedo at the opening ceremony of the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, reports suggested that OPEC Plus would agree to suspend its oil output, with the exception of Russia and Kazakhstan, as in the previous two meetings.

However, there are reports that indicate some members of the coalition have protested against Kazakhstan's non-compliance.

During the 50th meeting of the Joint Technical Committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), called JTC, which was held on April 10 via video conference, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo said while the market witnessed positive developments last month, it also faced continued skepticism from the outbreak of the coronavirus in the world.

At its 14th meeting, OPEC Plus authorized Russia and Kazakhstan to increase their total daily production by 150,000 barrels per day in April 2021. Russia's share of the increase was set at 130,000 barrels and Kazakhstan's share at 20,000 barrels per day.

With the decision of the last OPEC Plus meeting, the amount of production reduction of OPEC Plus members, based on the production reduction figure of March 2021, reached 6.9 million barrels per day in April. Saudi Arabia also announced at the last meeting that it would continue to voluntarily reduce its daily output by one million barrels in April.

The price of Brent crude oil is above $63 per barrel on the eve of the 15th OPEC Plus meeting.