<article><p><i>Clarifies 500,000 b/d rise in January </i></p><p class="lead">The Opec+ alliance has agreed to increase its collective crude production by 500,000 b/d in January, with any subsequent rises in output to be discussed at monthly ministerial meetings.</p><p>The group will meet monthly in January-March. Any further increases in output beyond January will be capped at 500,000 b/d in each month. The deal is "open" for the whole third phase of the current Opec+ agreement, which runs from January 2021 until April 2022, according to one delegate.</p><p>A compensation mechanism, which obliges quota-busters to make up for past overproduction with additional cuts, will continue until March, two delegates said.</p><p>Under the third phase of the original agreement struck in April, the alliance had planned to ease production cuts by almost 2mn b/d from January. But a worsening Covid-19 outlook in many regions, coupled with the rapid return of Libyan crude production since September, led the group to consider extending current collective cuts of 7.68mn b/d — largely from October 2018 baselines — into the first quarter of next year. Opec members were largely in favour of this, but <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2165642">faced opposition</a> from the UAE and non-Opec participants Russia and Kazakhstan. </p><p>This forced the group to discuss various other options ahead of and during today's meeting, which was postponed by two days to allow for additional talks.</p><p>Saudi Arabia will remain co-chair of the group's Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) alongside Russia, despite earlier this week floating the possibility of stepping down.</p><p class="bylines">By Rowena Edwards, Nader Itayim and Ruxandra Iordache</p></article>
