OPEC+ leaves November output targets unchanged

Seven OPEC+ producers agreed to keep their November crude output targets unchanged, the group said after a meeting held online on Sunday^3,13. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman took part in the virtual session¹⁶. Early reporting, citing sources, described the outcome as an agreement in principle before the group confirmed it². Algeria’s state minister and minister of hydrocarbons, Mohamed Arkab, joined by videoconference and attended a series of OPEC+ ministerial meetings the same day¹². The statement announcing the decision was carried by Xinhua¹³.

It is the second month running that the group has held output steady¹³. About 2 million barrels per day of cuts covering most members remain in place^1,4,7. The seven said they would meet again on November 1 to review market conditions and make further decisions^9,14. Several accounts of the meeting described the targets as unchanged rather than merely rolled over, and said the alliance was holding quotas firm in what it called a key November move^10,17.

Why it matters to investors

The decision leaves quota policy static in a market where the Iran conflict is already limiting what OPEC members can pump^4,11. One account of the meeting described the backdrop as a supply squeeze⁸. For energy investors, that leaves geopolitical disruption, rather than any change in the group’s stated targets, as the live variable in crude pricing⁸. Another framed the policy as unchanged quotas while the war continues to affect output and keep crude prices on the boil¹¹.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq form the core of the seven taking the decision, which keeps the producers most exposed to the conflict in a single policy line⁶. The committee framed its work as continuing under the decisions of the 38th ministerial meeting⁵ and the Declaration of Cooperation agreed at the OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting of December 5, 2024¹⁸. It also stressed what it called the critical importance of those commitments¹⁸.

What to watch

The seven countries agreed to carry on with monthly assessments of market conditions^10,15. The next of those falls on November 1^9,15. The group retains the option to call an OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting in line with earlier decisions if conditions change before then⁵.

Beyond that, the alliance is expected to settle its broader production policy for 2027 at a full ministerial meeting, which makes that gathering the more consequential date for anyone modelling supply next year^8,11. Until then, the group has told the market that its own targets are not the thing that will move^1,7.