Sources: OPEC Plus dispenses with the reports of the International Energy Agency... and will stick to its current plan to increase oil production

Reuters quoted an informed source as saying that the joint technical committee of the OPEC Plus alliance - whose ministers meet today, Thursday - decided to replace the International Energy Agency with the reports of "Wood Mackenzie" and "Rystad Energy" as information sources for assessing oil production, and the extent of compliance of members of the alliance with production quotas.

The source did not disclose the reason for taking this decision, but some members had criticized the data of the International Energy Agency recently.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said earlier that organizations such as the International Energy Agency need to be more realistic, and not tell misleading information to the world, as he put it.

The informed source explained that the decision was taken after a careful analysis conducted by the General Secretariat of the Alliance at the request of its Joint Technical Committee.

It is likely that the "OPEC Plus" alliance will stick to the existing agreement, which requires a gradual increase in production.

The Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, had repeatedly called on the coalition to pump more oil to stabilize the markets.

International Energy Agency.. Emergency meeting

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Australian Energy Minister Angus Taylor revealed today that the International Energy Agency has called an emergency ministerial meeting on Friday at 12:00 GMT to discuss the state of the oil market.

"The International Energy Agency has called an emergency meeting on Friday evening, Australian time," the spokesman said, adding that Secretary Taylor would participate.

The minister's spokesman added that the meeting would be held "to discuss the effects of collective action and assess the current situation of the oil market."

A spokeswoman for New Zealand Energy Minister Megan Woods also reported that the agency's member states will meet to decide on a collective withdrawal of

oil stocks.

She also said, "The size of the possible mass withdrawal has not been decided... The meeting will determine a total amount and this will be followed by the allocation of a quantity to each country."

Two senior US officials said yesterday that the administration of President Joe Biden is considering withdrawing one million barrels of oil per day from the strategic reserve over several months to reduce gasoline prices.

That withdrawal may be added to the 60 million barrels that IEA members agreed to withdraw earlier in March to stabilize global markets after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The OPEC Plus meeting... What are the expectations?

And 5 sources in OPEC Plus told Reuters before a meeting of the group, that the alliance will likely stick to its current plan to increase oil production when it meets later today.

This comes despite Western pressure to end price volatility in the midst of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Analysts believe that the 13 members of "OPEC" led by Riyadh and the ten allies in the "OPEC Plus" led by Moscow are likely to increase the total level of production by 400,000 barrels per day during May.

And the French press agency quoted analysts as saying that OPEC Plus surprised the markets several times during its monthly meetings, but the basic scenario for now is to maintain the status quo.

Analysts added that the evidence did not point to any deviation from the policy that began in the spring of 2021.

The discussions of the organization began at its headquarters in Vienna, at 11:00 GMT, with technical discussions before the plenary meeting via video link.

However, expectations are high, especially after oil in March touched record prices recorded during the 2008 financial crisis. The price of a barrel of Brent crude reached a peak of 139.13 dollars, and West Texas Intermediate crude reached 130.50 dollars.

Since then, prices have fallen from their highest levels, making it "less likely that OPEC Plus will decide to increase its production," according to analyst Carsten Fritsch at Commerzbank.

The US White House is expected to announce Thursday a plan to withdraw up to one million barrels per day from the strategic reserves, according to information reported by Bloomberg Agency, citing informed sources.