The OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, decided this Sunday to maintain its strategy of increasing oil supply for the sixth consecutive month, putting 188,000 more barrels on the market starting in September, a limited increase due to the current difficulty of moving crude oil due to the war in the Middle East.
The decision was made in a video conference of the Oil and Energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman, according to a statement issued by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from its headquarters in Vienna.
“In their collective commitment to support the stability of the oil market, the seven participating countries decided to implement a production adjustment of 188,000 barrels per day from the additional voluntary adjustments announced in April 2023,” the note states.
This new increase in pumping completes, at least on paper, the 1.65 million barrels per day supply cut agreed in 2023, when the group still included the United Arab Emirates, which left the organization in May.
Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman adjust production and reaffirm commitment to market stability.
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https://t.co/ham8QQ9Obl
— OPEC (@OPECSecretariat) August 2, 2026
The implementation of this new increase, which will come into effect in September, may be hampered by severe disruptions in the crude oil supply to the markets of key OPEC+ members—such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait—caused by the war unleashed on February 28 by the United States and Israel against Iran.
Transit difficulties through key points such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea have affected the export capacity of these countries.
Added to this is a drop in Russian production due to attacks on oil infrastructure with which Ukraine seeks to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its aggression.
In fact, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, an advisory body of OPEC+, today expressed its concern about attacks on energy infrastructure, and warned that recovering the full capacity of these facilities “is costly and time-consuming, affecting the overall availability of supply.”
It also highlighted that these attacks or the disruption of international shipping routes increase “market volatility” and weaken OPEC+’s efforts to support stability “for the benefit of producers, consumers, and the global economy.”
Today’s agreement establishes quotas for the seven countries, which in some cases are well above the most recent production data.
For example, they foresee 9.949 million barrels of oil per day (mbd) for Russia, while its pumping last June, according to data included in an OPEC+ report, was 8.928 mbd.
The quota reserved for Saudi Arabia, of 10.47 mbd, is also much higher than the 6.84 mbd it had in June, according to independent sources mentioned in that report.
In its statement today, the seven countries indicate that they will meet again on September 6 to analyze the market situation, although different analysts consider that after this new increase in pumping, OPEC+ is inclined to keep the official level of its supplies frozen during the last quarter of the year.
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