Opec and its allies agreed on Tuesday to boost oil output for the seventh consecutive month as oil prices climbed back above $80 a barrel, with the Omicron coronavirus variant increasingly seen as unlikely to substantially hit demand.
The Opec+ group, which has included Russia since 2016, said it would increase production by another 400,000 barrels a day in February, continuing with the monthly plan agreed in July to gradually replace output cut at the start of the pandemic.
Large oil consumers including the US, India and Japan regularly called on Opec+ last year to increase production at a more rapid rate, fearful that energy cost inflation could derail their economic recovery. But Saudi Arabia and other large members of the group have consistently stuck with the plan of more gradual output rises.