Mubasher: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as  OPEC+, are holding meetings starting on Monday to highlight ways to support the oil market in 2021 amid the surge of Coronavirus (COVID-19) again and its impact on oil prices and demand, Reuters reported.

OPEC+ was planning to raise oil production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in January as part of an easing of record supply cuts.

However, OPEC+ is considering postponing a rise or further decrease in oil supply, as the oil prices are decreasing due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

OPEC+ sources said that OPEC+ is studying an option to maintain the existing supply cut of 7.7 million bpd for another three to six months, instead of reducing the supply to 5.7 million bpd in January.

Two OPEC+ committees are meeting virtually this week, comprising the Joint Technical Committee which started its meeting on Monday and the higher-level Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee which will meet on Tuesday, 17 November.

The full OPEC+ is scheduled to hold a meeting on 30 November and 1 December to decide policy steps to support the oil market.