OPEC+ members have agreed to cut oil output by an additional one million barrels per day

Members of the group agreed to make 1 million barrels a day of additional oil-supply cuts at a meeting on Thursday, delegates said. That reduction comes alongside the much-anticipated extension into next year of Saudi Arabia’s voluntary output curb of the same size.

Members have an agreement principle that will now go to a vote, delegates said, asking not the be named because the information was private. Final details of the accord, including national production levels, will be announced individually by each country rather than in the customary OPEC+ communique, they said.

The additional 1 million barrel-a-day cut fulfills what delegates had said was Riyadh’s main goal for the meeting. More than a week of preparatory talks appeared to have overcome internal disagreements over some African nations’ production quotas, which had forced the video conference to be pushed back by several days.

Since July, Saudi Arabia has been making an extra voluntary cut of 1 million barrels a day, described by Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as a “lollipop.” The kingdom was pressing the rest of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to join this effort after crude prices fell by more than 10% from their September high. A deeper collective reduction could stave off a renewed oil surplus predicted for early next year. 

In a surprise move, Brazil will join the cooperation charter of the OPEC+ oil alliance, a move that won’t bind it to making production cuts. Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira told a meeting of the group on Thursday that the country would make the move next year. The charter, open to all oil producing countries, doesn’t bind signatories or limit their sovereign rights.

“President Lula confirmed our entry into the OPEC+ cooperation charter from January 2024,” the minister told the group, according to a video circulated by delegates. He was met with a round of applause.