The oil and energy ministers of OPEC+ countries are discussing the coalition's crude oil production policies in January 2022 by video conference today, Thursday, December 2.

Since the last OPEC+ meeting, crude oil prices fell more than $16 a barrel from the October average of $86/b as major consumers announced dipping into their strategic stocks and the Omicron strain fueled exponential rise in Covid cases. These have complicated the decision-making process for OPEC+.

Some observers have suggested that OPEC+ may halt its production plan in January to counter supply glut in the market, while others believe that the group would stick to its production plan by raising supply by 400,000 barrels per day in January and then pause it in February.

OPEC and its allies have been adding 400,000 barrels a day to the coalition’s output since August to end the 2020 supply cuts.

In response to the collapse in demand at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, OPEC+ cut production by 9.7 million barrels per day in May 2020, equivalent to about 10 percent of the global demand, but has since tapered the cuts as conditions began to improve thanks to COVID vaccine rollout.