Seven OPEC+ members hold November oil output quotas steady

Reports on October 4 said that, during a short virtual meeting, seven key OPEC+ producers left their November output caps unchanged: Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman. TASS presented the move as a decision, while The Moscow Times reported that the countries had agreed in principle to maintain the targets.¹²

Quotas stay in place

TASS reported that Russia’s November 2026 quota remained 9.949 million barrels a day. It put Saudi Arabia’s ceiling at 10.478 million barrels a day, Iraq’s at 4.431 million, Kuwait’s at 2.676 million, Kazakhstan’s at 1.628 million, Algeria’s at 1.007 million and Oman’s at 841,000 barrels a day.²

The seven countries also renewed their commitment to comply fully with the Declaration of Cooperation, TASS said. They intend to continue meeting monthly to assess market conditions, with the next review scheduled for November 1.²

A separate gathering of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee reviewed market conditions but did not set policy, according to The Moscow Times. The newspaper said the November decision matched market expectations and that further changes to production policy were unlikely before 2027.¹

Production trails the ceilings

The Moscow Times reported that Gulf members of OPEC+ continued to produce well below their assigned levels despite an increase in oil movements through the Strait of Hormuz. It said exports had varied between 60% and 80% of normal volumes in recent months and that much of the planned increase in production targets during 2026 had not translated into additional supply.¹

According to the newspaper, the seven core producers supplied 25 million barrels a day in August, an increase of 630,000 barrels a day from July. That total was still about 5 million barrels a day below the level recorded in February before the war, it reported.¹

OPEC+ also retained production cuts of about 2 million barrels a day covering most of its members, The Moscow Times said. The newspaper reported that Brent crude remained above $100 a barrel, compared with about $73 before the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran began.¹

Capacity review delayed

The Moscow Times attributed the gap between targets and production partly to continuing export disruption linked to the war. It also reported that the conflict had delayed an OPEC+ review of members’ production capacity by creating uncertainty over their future output potential.¹

That assessment is intended to help determine the allocation of 2027 quotas and any future production increases, according to the newspaper. It said changes before 2027 were therefore unlikely because the group needs the review’s findings before distributing additional output among members.¹