OPEC+ stick to modest April oil output rise despite price spike, sources say

OPEC+ oil producers agreed on Wednesday to stick to their plans for a modest output rise in April, OPEC+ sources said, snubbing calls from consumers for more crude even as prices rocketed higher amid sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Oil shot above $110 a barrel this week, their highest in almost eight years, as Western sanctions tightened on Russia and disrupted supplies from the world's second largest oil exporter.

OPEC+ oil producers agreed on Wednesday to stick to their plans for a modest output rise in April, OPEC+ sources said, snubbing calls from consumers for more crude even as prices rocketed higher amid sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Oil shot above $110 a barrel this week, their highest in almost eight years, as Western sanctions tightened on Russia and disrupted supplies from the world's second largest oil exporter. The Western measures caused problems for exports from Kazakhstan, another member of OPEC+, a group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and allied oil producers.

OPEC+ has been hiking output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month since August as they unwind cuts made when the pandemic slashed demand. They have resisted calls from the United States and other consumers for more supplies. Four OPEC+ sources said ministers from the group had agreed to stick to existing output plans, during an online meeting that lasted less than quarter of an hour. It followed a recommendation for no change by a smaller monitoring committee.

(Reporting Reuters energy team; Writing by Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Jason Neely, Edmund Blair and Louise Heavens)