Top oil producers stick with modest output boost despite pressure

Major oil producers agreed Thursday to continue modestly raising output despite pressure from the United States and other big consumer nations to open up the taps much more decisively amid soaring prices.

The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their 10 allies reconfirmed a July decision to gradually step up production each month in a brief meeting via videoconference.

The powerful producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the so-called OPEC+ will add 400,000 barrels per day in December, they said.

The decision aimed “to ensure a stable and a balanced oil market, the efficient and secure supply to consumers,” the group said in a statement.