OPEC+ bolsters market stability to address impact of Covid-19, Russia/Ukraine crisis

Oredola Adeola

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has urged 23 oil-producing countries that signed the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) to continue to collaborate through the DoC mechanism to bolster market stability to adapt to the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russian/Ukraine crisis.

Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo,OPEC Secretary General, stated in his statement after the DoC’s Joint Technical Committee held its 62nd Meeting to review oil market developments ahead of the 40th JMMC Meeting and the 28th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting scheduled for Thursday, 5 May.

In 2016, through the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) between OPEC Member Countries and 10 non-OPEC oil-producing countries including Azerbaijan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Equatorial Guinea (which later joined OPEC), Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan gathered in Vienna, Austria, at the OPEC Headquarters to embark on a new era of cooperation to support sustainable stability in the global oil market. Other producers attended the meeting in support of these extraordinary efforts.

EnergyDay gathered that the DoC became an unprecedented collaborative framework of leading oil producers that saw the need to come together during a critical juncture in the global oil industry.

Meanwhile, the OPEC SG in the statement on Wednesday commended the DoC countries for continually adapting to the challenges they have encountered during the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, many of which remain evident today.

Barkindo noted in his remarks that OPEC and its DoC partners have no control over the factors causing market volatility as a result of geopolitical developments, however, what can be done is to continue collaborating through the DoC mechanism to bolster market stability.

He said, “It is vital we have stable energy markets, for both producer & consumers. We urge global leaders to continue to support the type of multilateralism exhibited in the DoC, to ensure an unhindered, stable and secure flow of energy to the whole world”, stated the OPEC SG.