OPEC+ said Sunday it would lock in current production levels, a pause that suggests the world’s leading oil producers are uncertain about the direction of crude prices with a price cap on Russia’s petroleum exports set to take effect.
The decision on Sunday allows the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a group of producers led by Russia—collectively known as OPEC+—to take more time to assess the market impact of an EU and Group of Seven price cap, which is intended to crimp Russia’s revenue for the Ukraine war. It locks in a 2 million-barrels-a-day production cut decided in October.
