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Opinion
Julian Lee

OPEC+ Is Being Way Too Optimistic About Its Supply Targets

The group is expected to agree to more production increases at their next meeting. But they’ve been behind on their goals for a while.

Waiting for the thaw.

Waiting for the thaw.

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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As a new month comes into sight, so too does another meeting of the OPEC+ group of oil producers, who are seeking to balance the oil market by gradually adding back the supply they removed almost two years ago in response to the first wave of Covid-19.

With one or two notable exceptions — the November gathering that saw the group refuse customers’ requests for a bigger-than-planned output increase being the most obvious — the virtual get-togethers have become almost routine, with the biggest surprises they have generated being their brevity.