OPEC+ panel recommends sticking to oil output plan, sources say

By Alex Lawler, Ahmad Ghaddar and Olesya Astakhova

LONDON (Reuters) -A OPEC+ ministerial panel has recommended that the oil producing group stick to an existing pact to hike oil output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, OPEC+ sources said on Monday, despite consumer calls for more oil and cheaper crude.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and their allies, known as OPEC+, is under pressure from big consumers, such as the United States and India, to add extra supplies to cool prices that have surged 50% this year.

Brent climbed above $80 a barrel last month, adding to global inflationary pressures and threatening a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OPEC+ ministerial panel, known as the JMMC, that monitors the market gathered for online talks ahead of the full-ministerial meeting.

The group agreed in July to boost output by 400,000 bpd a month until at least April 2022 to phase out 5.8 million bpd of existing production cuts, already much reduced from curbs that were in place during the worst of the pandemic.

OPEC+ sources said the panel ended its gathering with a recommendation that the group stick to its existing policy.

"There are calls for more of a production increase by OPEC+," one of the OPEC+ sources told Reuters ahead of the panel meeting. "We are scared of the fourth wave of corona, no one wants to make any big moves."

A senior aide to U.S. President Joe Biden met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on a range of issues last week, saying oil was "of concern". India, another big oil consumer, has pushed for more supply.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar in London and Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova in Moscow; Editing by Veronica Brown and Edmund Blair)