Oil prices are set for a volatile start to the new year, as the next OPEC+ group meeting on production policy is expected to be set for the first trading day, January 4, Argus reported on Monday, citing delegates with the OPEC+ alliance. The group managed to avoid a no-deal outcome at its last week meetings, which went on for days amid disagreements over how the OPEC cartel and its Russia-led non-OPEC partners would act next year with the pandemic still depressing fuel demand in the world. The original plan for a 2-million-bpd increase of OPEC+ production as of January was watered down to a 500,000-bpd rise for January in a compromise agreement , largely seen as a positive outcome that avoided a break-up of the OPEC+ pact or even of OPEC. The total production cut for January will thus be 7.2 million bpd, compared to the current 7.7 […]