post: OPEC+ UNLIKELY TO CHANGE OUTPUT POLICY AT OCT. 2 PANEL MEETING, SOURCES SAY - G&MOPEC+ Unlikely to Change Output Policy at Oct. 2 Panel Meeting An OPEC+ panel is unlikely this week to recommend any changes to its current deal to reduce production and to start unwinding some cuts from December, despite recent sharp declines in oil prices, five sources from the producer group told Reuters. Top ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, or OPEC+ as the group is known, will hold an online joint ministerial monitoring committee (JMMC) meeting on Wednesday at 1200 GMT. "Although the oil market situation is a bit complicated, I do not expect a new decision or any change to the OPEC+ agreement in Wednesday's meeting," one of the sources said, declining to be identified. Oil prices have fallen in 2024 with Brent crude last month slipping below $70 a barrel for the first time since 2021, pressured by concern about global demand and rising supply outside OPEC+. Brent was trading near $71 on Tuesday. [O/R] OPEC+ is currently cutting output by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 5.7% of global demand, in a series of steps agreed since late 2022. Its latest agreement calls for OPEC+ to raise output by 180,000 bpd in December, part of a plan to gradually unwind its most recent layer of voluntary cuts during 2025. The hike was delayed from October after prices slid.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in September for the sixth consecutive month and the 22nd time in the last 23 months, say the nation's supply executives ...