23 members of the OPEC+ coalition gathered today (Wednesday, September 1) amid pressure from the United States on OPEC and its allies to ramp up oil output in order to counter rising gasoline prices. However, informed sources say there is no change in the OPEC+ coalition program.

The Joint Technical Committee (JTC), which presents its assessment of the fundamental drivers of the market prior to the meeting, predicted in its Tuesday meeting that the oil market would have a shortage of 900,000 barrels per day this year, but in 2022 it would face 2.5 mbd of excess supply.

The committee expects global oil demand to grow by 5,950,000 barrels per day this year, according to its previous forecast, and 3,280,000 barrels per day next year.

After breathtaking and fruitless negotiations at the 18th meeting, OPEC+ agreed to free a total of 400,000 barrels per day of production from August 2021 to 5.8 million barrels per day of supply cuts.

Predictions are that today's meeting of OPEC+ will emphasize the decision of the 19th meeting of the coalition and there will be no change in the oil supply plant in September.

In response to the collapse in demand at the height of the Covid crisis, OPEC+ reduced its production to 9.7 million barrels per day, equivalent to about 10 percent of global demand, from May 2020, but since then, as demand has improved, it has limited its supply cuts and has eased them over time.