OPEC+ holds 2026 group-wide oil output steady, agrees capacity mechanism

By Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Olesya Astakhova LONDON/MOSCOW, Nov 30 (Reuters) – OPEC+ countries agreed to maintain group-wide oil output quotas for 2026 in a meeting on Sunday, and also agreed on a mechanism to assess members' maximum oil production capacity, OPEC said in a statement. Eight OPEC+ countries, holding a separate meeting on Sunday, also have an agreement in principle to maintain a pause in their output hikes for the first quarter of 2026, an OPEC+ source and a person familiar with OPEC+ talks said earlier. The meeting of OPEC+, which pumps half of the world's oil, comes during a fresh U.S. effort to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, which could add to oil supply if sanctions on Russia are eased. Ministers have started a series of online meetings, two sources said. If the peace deal fails, Russia could see its supply curbed further by sanctions. OPEC+ groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia. OVER 3 MLN BPD OF OUTPUT CUTS STILL IN PLACE Brent crude closed on Friday near $63 a barrel, down 15% this year. OPEC+ has paused oil output hikes for the first quarter of 2026 after releasing some 2.9 million barrels per day into the market since April 2025. The group still has about 3.24 million bpd of output cuts in place, representing around 3% of global demand, and the Sunday meeting did not alter those. OPEC said the group had approved a mechanism to assess members' maximum production capacity to be used for setting output quotas from 2027. OPEC+ has been discussing the issue for years and it has proved difficult because some members such as the United Arab Emirates have increased capacity and want higher quotas. Other members such as African countries have seen declines in production capacity but are resisting quota cuts. Angola quit the group in 2024 over a disagreement about its production quotas. (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Olesya Astakhova; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes)

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