OPEC is still expecting the world oil market to be in surplus this year. But they made adjustments to their monthly production increases, revising it to 1.3 million barrels per day.
Initially, the group wanted to stick to their plan of adding 400,000 bpd to their total monthly output until production returned to pre-pandemic levels. But that proves to be difficult as some member countries struggle to meet quotas assigned to them.
OPEC and its members have agreed to take almost 8 million bpd off the market in response to lockdowns by many countries. But those cuts, coupled with less investment in oil maintenance and exploration, have substantially reduced the group's spare capacity near its lowest point ever. That is why OPEC agreed to increase production again in March, albeit marginally since several members failed to meet their planned monthly increase.
Oil prices closed in the red after the OPEC meeting:
After a brief meeting on Wednesday, OPEC approved a nominal 400,000 bpd production recovery in March. The group had made similar pledges in previous months, but a Bloomberg survey showed that several of its members barely managed to meet quotas in January due to problems such as lack of investment.