OPEC+ countries agreed to maintain oil output quotas for 2026 during a meeting on Sunday. They also established a mechanism to assess members’ maximum production capacity. Another meeting involving eight OPEC+ countries agreed to maintain a pause in output hikes for the first quarter of 2026.

The meeting took place amid a U.S. effort to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, potentially impacting oil supply. If the peace deal fails, sanctions on Russia could lead to further supply cuts. The group still has over 3 million barrels per day of output cuts in place, representing about 3% of global demand.

Despite discussions over the years, OPEC+ has approved a mechanism to assess members’ maximum production capacity for setting output quotas from 2027. Challenges exist as some members like the UAE want higher quotas due to increased capacity, while others like African nations resist quota cuts despite declines in production capacity. Angola exited the group in 2024 over a dispute about its production quotas.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: OPEC+ holds 2026 group-wide oil output steady, agrees capacity mechanism