OPEC+ to decide on oil production policy

An influential energy alliance known as OPEC+ will meet on Wednesday to determine the next phase of production policy.

It comes as crude prices rally to multi-year highs on supply disruption fears and Russia’s intensifying war with Ukraine.

OPEC and non-OPEC partners are slated to convene at 12:30 p.m. London time. Energy analysts broadly expect the producer alliance to stick to its plan of raising its crude output quota by 400,000 barrels per day for April.

Ahead of the meeting, the International Energy Agency said it would move forward with a 60-million-barrel global release to offset energy market disruptions caused by international sanctions against Russia over its war with Ukraine. The U.S. has said 30 million of that total will come from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The release of oil from the U.S. and other IEA members reflects the magnitude of expected disruptions to global energy markets.

International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $109.18 a barrel on Wednesday morning, up around 4%. Brent had climbed as high as $113.02 a barrel earlier in the session, its highest level since June 2014.

Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures stood at $107.44 a barrel, roughly 3.8% higher. The oil contract had jumped to $110.67 earlier, its highest level since August 2013.

John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital, described Russia’s war with Ukraine as “a dramatic moment for the market and the world, and supplies.” As a result, he called on de-facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia to use its spare capacity to help the global market, stand up to its non-OPEC partner Russia, and support Ukraine.

“It is time for Saudi Arabia to step up and be the friend that they always claim they are to the United States and quite frankly to their other customer base, particularly in Asia,” Kilduff told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday.

“The Saudis have it within their power to snuff out some of this rally that we’re seeing for sure. They could easily put another 1 million to 2 million barrels per day of oil on the market with almost the flick of a switch,” he said.

“That’s what I think they should be talking about doing and acting towards and be more pro-West and pro-Ukraine, for that matter, rather than with their business partner of Russia.”

OPEC alone accounts for around 40% of the world’s oil supply.

Sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine have so far been carefully constructed to avoid directly hitting the country’s exports, although there are signs the measures are inadvertently prompting banks and traders to shun Russian crude.

In the event that Western leaders were to impose sanctions on Russia’s energy exports, a move the White House says is “certainly on the table,” it would have far-reaching implications for the global economy.

Russia is one of the world’s largest…