- Oil prices were up about 1% Tuesday morning as OPEC+ holds its January meeting
- The cartel is expected to agree to another output boost for next month, in line with the group’s plan set back in the summer of 2021
- Ratifying a 400 MBbl/d increase for February comes amid concerns that demand could be weakened by flare-ups, including China, the biggest oil importer (BBG)
- OPEC’s Joint Technical Committee, which studies the market for the group, sees a surplus of 1.4 MMBbl/d in 1Q 2022, about a quarter less than it estimated a month ago (Bloomberg)
- Venezuela has doubled its oil exports in December from a year earlier, increasing production in defiance of U.S. sanctions
- Exports averaged 619 Mbbl/d in December
- The heavily sanctioned country was able to export more oil with support from Iran, which boosted the supply of a key ingredient that aids the production, according to Bloomberg