OPEC+ agrees to raise output next month as focus shifts to market share

OPEC is going for volume ￰0￱ from the alliance confirmed they’ve agreed in principle to increase production next ￰1￱ plan is to add about 137,000 barrels per day, starting in October, as part of a larger strategy to take back lost market ￰2￱ group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has already pushed forward an earlier phase of production hikes, and now they’re going ahead with the next ￰3￱ is part of a bigger plan to bring back the 1.66 million barrels a day of cuts that were meant to stay in place until the end of ￰4￱ timeline has now been thrown out the ￰5￱ they stick to the pace of 137,000 barrels a month, the full rollback could be done in a ￰6￱ it won’t be that ￰7￱ countries don’t have the spare ￰8￱ are being told to sit out the increase to make up for earlier ￰9￱ the real number is going to come in lower than ￰10￱ Arabia and Russia push through the pivot The shift marks a full-blown strategy reversal by OPEC and its ￰11￱ cartel used to fight tooth and nail to protect prices.

Now? They’re chasing market share, no matter how crowded it ￰12￱ months ago, OPEC+ shocked the market by restarting 2.2 million barrels per day of halted supply, a full year ahead of ￰13￱ decision blindsided traders who had been expecting a long freeze due to surplus ￰14￱ far, the gamble hasn’t broken the market. Yes, crude prices have fallen 12% this ￰15￱ the overall market has held up better than most expected. That’s giving Saudi Arabia more confidence to roll out even more ￰16￱ there’s more than oil at ￰17￱ Trump, back in the headlines, has been demanding lower prices as part of his inflation-fighting playbook.

A supply flood serves his agenda. He’s also been using oil prices to put pressure on Russia over its war in ￰18￱ Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled to visit Washington in November. So, yeah, timing is deliberate. There’s still a gap between headlines and ￰19￱ group says one thing, but on-the-ground output depends on each country’s ￰20￱ producers, especially the smaller ones, just can’t keep up.

A few have already exceeded their past quotas and are being told to hold ￰21￱ the rest, it’s ￰22￱ watch OPEC while Asia hosts oil’s biggest party Sunday’s meeting sent another message too: no one really knows what OPEC is going to do until it ￰23￱ the start of the week, Bloomberg polled crude traders and ￰24￱ majority believed that OPEC+ would hold steady this month. Then, out of nowhere, rumors began swirling that an increase might be on the table, and those rumors became fact ￰25￱ Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, has got a track record of shocking the market just to keep traders off ￰26￱ weekend was another classic example.

Now, the group’s next move is going to dominate APPEC, the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference, kicking off this week in Singapore. It’s Asia’s biggest oil gathering, and this year’s mood is already ￰27￱ International Energy Agency is forecasting a record oil glut in 2026, and concerns about oversupply are expected to dominate the ￰28￱ course, there are a few things that could support oil prices ￰29￱ winters drive heating ￰30￱ interest rates could make commodities more attractive ￰31￱ the main story is still the looming glut. That’s the only thing anyone in Singapore is talking ￰32￱ conference begins informally with a wave of private ￰33￱ SE is hosting one at a hotel overlooking Marina Bay, but most guests are expected to be glued to their phones for updates on the OPEC+ ￰34￱ gossip, as always, will flow faster at cocktail events than on ￰35￱ oil firms are rolling out the red ￰36￱ Aramco, PetroChina, Equinor, BP, and Vitol are all throwing ￰37￱ crypto news deserves attention - KEY Difference Wire puts you on 250+ top sites