OPEC+ Keeps December Oil Targets on Hold for a Third Straight Month

OPEC+ has formally kept its December oil-production targets unchanged, confirming a third straight monthly pause as Brent crude enters November above $110 a barrel. Seven core members, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, and Oman, agreed at their November 1 online meeting to leave December targets where they are, Reuters reported.

The decision confirms an agreement in principle reported a day earlier and means the seven producers are not adding another round of barrels into a market still carrying a large supply premium from the war with Iran. Their combined targets stand at about 31 million barrels per day, though most members are pumping well below them because of war-related export disruptions.

Brent's January contract, now the benchmark, last settled at $113.43 a barrel on Friday, October 30, after gaining 13.6% during October. The expired December contract finished Friday at $117.64, its highest settlement since the end of April. Brent then fell more than 3% on Monday morning, to around $109.75, as diplomatic talks between Iran and Qatar fueled hopes that tensions in the Middle East could ease.

The group spent much of 2026 raising output targets as it unwound a 1.65 million-barrel-per-day supply cut originally agreed in 2023, a process completed in September. Another layer of cuts totaling roughly 2 million barrels per day covering most members remains in place through the end of 2026.

The real negotiation now is about next year. Before the end of the fourth quarter, OPEC+ must finish a review of each member's production capacity, which will set the baselines for 2027 quotas. The next full OPEC+ meeting is scheduled for November 29, and traders see that gathering, not Sunday's widely expected hold, as the moment that will shape oil supply next year.