OPEC+ Extends Its Pause, Holding November Oil Output at 31 Million Barrels a Day

Seven members of the OPEC+ alliance — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman — agreed on Sunday, October 4, to leave their combined crude oil production target for November unchanged at 31.01 million barrels a day, according to multiple people familiar with the virtual meeting. The decision extends a pause that began in October, after the group had raised output in four consecutive months earlier in 2026.

Same Quotas as October, Country by Country

The required production levels that the seven countries carry into November are identical to their October targets: Saudi Arabia at 10.478 million barrels a day, Russia at 9.949 million, Iraq at 4.431 million, Kuwait at 2.676 million, Kazakhstan at 1.628 million, Algeria at 1.007 million and Oman at 841,000 barrels a day. Together, those seven figures add up to the group’s stated 31.01 million barrel-a-day total.

From Four Months of Hikes to a Pause

The freeze is notable because it follows a markedly different stretch earlier in the year. Starting in April, the wider OPEC+ coalition — which also includes the United Arab Emirates — moved to unwind 1.65 million barrels a day of voluntary cuts first put in place in 2023, adding output in four consecutive monthly steps as the group sought to claw back market share it had ceded to non-OPEC+ producers such as the United States and Brazil. That run of increases stopped in September, and October’s targets were held flat for the first time since the unwind began. November now makes it two pauses in a row, a sign that members are wary of pushing more barrels into a market several analysts already describe as oversupplied.

A Market Still Unsettled by the Gulf

The decision lands against a backdrop of continued disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, where fighting earlier this year interrupted tanker traffic and pushed importing countries to secure alternative supply. TheDailyEnergy.com has reported on the G7’s move to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude over four months to ease a tightening refined-products market, on China’s decision to halt most of its October fuel exports to protect domestic diesel supply, and on unidentified projectiles striking three tankers in the strait as recently as early October. Saudi Arabia has leaned more heavily on its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to keep crude moving regardless of conditions in the Gulf, a workaround it restarted in late September after a pipeline attack.

That split market — crude supply recovering faster than refined-product supply — helps explain why OPEC+, which sets crude quotas rather than product output, can hold steady on barrels even while diesel markets stay tight.

Next Stop: November 2

The seven countries are scheduled to meet again by videoconference on November 2 to set December quotas. Saudi Arabia had reportedly pushed for a bigger increase at points earlier this year, while Russia has more consistently favored restraint — a split that traders will be watching for again as the group heads into the winter heating season.

Sources: CNBC, “OPEC+ agrees to keep November oil output targets steady,” Oct. 4, 2026; Bloomberg, “OPEC Has Deal Outline for Steady November Quotas, Delegates Say,” Oct. 4, 2026; The Moscow Times, “OPEC+ Agrees to Keep November Oil Output Targets Steady,” Oct. 4, 2026; The National, “Opec+ keeps oil output targets unchanged for November,” Oct. 4, 2026; Nairametrics, “OPEC+ keeps November oil production unchanged at 31.01 million bpd,” Oct. 5, 2026.

Illustrative image. Photo: Vincent Eisfeld, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source