OPEC+ members to meet Thursday, likely to stick to planned output hikes, sources say

By Maha El Dahan, Olesya Astakhova and Ahmad Ghaddar

DUBAI/LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) -OPEC+ ministers from eight nations that are gradually raising oil output will meet online on Thursday and are likely to approve a further hike in production from May, sources from the producer group told Reuters.

Eight members of OPEC+, a group that includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, are scheduled to raise oil output by 135,000 barrels per day in May.

That would be the second monthly increase under a plan to unwind some of the millions of barrels per day of cuts the group has had in place since 2022.

OPEC+ is simultaneously pressuring other producers that have exceeded their output targets to rein in output and pump below target for a time to compensate.

Two of the OPEC+ sources said the meeting was to review plans for some members to make additional output cuts to compensate for pumping above their quotas.

Two others said the group's plan to continue to unwind their most recent layer of oil output cuts was expected to remain unchanged for May.

All sources declined to be identified by name due to the sensitivity of the matter. OPEC did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

OPEC+ has been cutting output by 5.85 million bpd, equal to about 5.7% of global supply. The group has agreed on a series of steps since 2022 to support the market.

An OPEC+ ministerial committee, with the power to recommend to the larger group changes in production policy, was earlier scheduled to meet on April 5 although one source said this may also take place on Thursday.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler, Olesya Astakhova, Maha El Dahan, Ahmad Ghaddar and Dmitry Zhdannikov, writing by Alex Lawler Editing by David Goodman and Ros Russell)