London (AFP)

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies via the OPEC + agreement meet on Friday to resume their meeting adjourned the day before, for lack of agreement, and to rule on production quotas from the month of 'August.

Thursday's agenda was plentiful, with three successive meetings: a summit of thirteen historic members led by Saudi Arabia, a technical meeting (JMMC) of the alliance extended to ten other members led by Russia and a second summit at twenty-three.

Producer countries will resume discussions on Friday at 1:00 p.m. GMT (3:00 p.m. in Paris and Vienna, at the organization's headquarters), according to an OPEC press release, before the long-awaited OPEC + summit at 2:30 p.m. GMT.

The quack would come from a "last minute objection raised by the United Arab Emirates to an agreement reached earlier today between Russia and Saudi Arabia", say analysts at Deutsche Bank.

According to Eugen Weinberg, of Commerzbank, Abu Dhabi would like to increase its reference production volume from which its quota is calculated, arguing "of a now higher capacity".

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The alliance must fix the level of its joint production from August, or even beyond.

The financial agency Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source, advanced Thursday the return of a volume of 2 million barrels per day by the end of 2021, at the rate of 400,000 barrels per day each month, an option which therefore has no was recorded on Thursday.

This strategy would be in line with the cartel's policy carried out since May: gradually reopening the black gold tap after having tightened it very strongly at the start of the pandemic in the face of dying demand.

OPEC + faces a complex equation, divided between a very real recovery in demand but which remains fragile, a probable return in the medium term of Iranian exports and high prices, which are causing the discontent of certain large importers such as India. .

The alliance sealed in 2016 will also discuss extending their production agreement until the end of 2022, instead of April for now, Neil Wilson of Markets.com said in a note.

© 2021 AFP