The 187th Meeting of the OPEC Conference and the 51st Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) were also held virtually earlier in the day.

On Nov. 22, OPEC rescheduled a series of meetings, announcing the 187th Meeting of the OPEC Conference, the 51st Meeting of JMMC, and the 36th meeting of OPEC+ ministers have all been delayed until Nov. 30.

The three meetings were originally planned for Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, has risen in recent days, as traders bet a deal will be reached during the OPEC+ meeting to restrict supplies.

On Thursday, Brent reached $84.69 a barrel, the highest since early November, taking gains since Friday to about six percent.

Crucial to finalizing a deal will be the willingness of other OPEC members to contribute, with the delay to the meeting from Sunday at least partly motivated by talks with African members – including Angola and Nigeria – which have pushed back against attempts to curb their output.

Both countries have underproduced in recent years because of underinvestment in their oil sectors, but are loath to accept substantially lower baselines – the level from which member production targets are calculated – as they try to revive their output.

People familiar with Saudi Arabia’s thinking have said an additional group-wide production cut of about 1m barrels per day (bpd) — about one percent of global supply — has gained support, though the number has not been finalized and could be higher or lower.

The kingdom would also extend its existing temporary voluntary curbs — also of 1m bpd — that are due to expire at the end of this year, while Russia has also made smaller voluntary cuts to exports.