Following its meeting on Wednesday, the OPEC+ group’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) reportedly proposed that the alliance reduce production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in November.

According to earlier rumours, OPEC+ would talk about cutting production by between 500,000 and 1 million bpd during today’s meeting. The majority of analysts tended to forecast a reduction of 1 million bpd. Then on Tuesday, additional claims that OPEC+ would negotiate a cut as significant as 2 million bpd surfaced.

The most often reported figure just before the JMMC and OPEC+ meetings began was a decrease of 1.8 million bpd. Given that OPEC+ is thought to be producing about 3.6 million bpd less than its planned level, the actual output cut could be significantly smaller.

Suhail Al Mazrouei, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), responded that OPEC+ is a “technical organization” when asked whether the large proposed cut might harm U.S.-UAE relations upon his arrival at the OPEC+ meeting in Vienna, the alliance’s first in-person gathering since March 2020.

As they arrived at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, the majority of representatives from the OPEC+ producers stated that any cuts would be “technical, not political decisions” and cited a “risk of recession” as justification.

Oil prices were largely flat and undecided on Wednesday after rising on Tuesday as the market awaited OPEC+’s official announcement and final decision following the meeting. As of 9:13 a.m. ET, Brent crude was up 0.32% at $92.00. At $86.66, the American benchmark was up 0.23%.

When the current administration least needed higher gas prices, a month before the midterm elections, the White House was reportedly up in arms to try and stop the possibly significant production decrease in OPEC+.