The eight-strong V8 group in the alliance, which includes top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia – as well as several Gulf states who have been hit by Iran’s retaliatory airstrikes – are to decide whether to increase production as prices rise.
Reuters news agency, citing three sources, reported that the group had agreed in principle ahead of the meeting to raise its oil output quotas by 206,000 barrels per day for May.
That is the same as the increase decided for April at their last meeting held on March 1, just as the war began to disrupt oil flows.
The sources said a quota increase will have little immediate impact on supply but would signal readiness to raise output once the Strait of Hormuz opens.
Since the war started on February 28, Iran has virtually closed off the crucial waterway. Before the war, about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the Strait.
Oil prices could spike above US$150 – an all-time high – if flows via Hormuz remain disrupted into mid-May, JPMorgan had said earlier. (AFP/Reuters)
Edited by Aaron Tam
