By Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON, (Reuters) – OPEC+ believes the Omicron coronavirus variant will have a mild impact on oil markets, but that it is temporary. This leaves the possibility of a further rise in production, according to a technical report Reuters saw on Sunday.

According to the Joint Technical Committee’s report, “The new Omicron version is likely to have a mild impact and be short-lived” as the world gains more experience in managing COVID-19 and other related issues.

It added that this is “in addition to a stable economic outlook in both advanced and emerging economies.”

According to Reuters’ letter, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet at 1300 GMT Monday to discuss the selection of a successor to Nigeria’s Mohammad Barkindo as secretary general.

The meeting will then be followed by a meeting between OPEC+ and its allies, led by Russia. This is to discuss whether or not to increase output targets to 400,000 barrels per hour (bpd), in February.

Also, Monday’s meeting of the JTC at 1000 GMT will be used to review market fundamentals.

The report’s baseline scenario shows that OECD commercial oil stock levels in 2022 will be below the 2015-2019 mean in the first three quarters and rise above it by 24,000,000 barrels in quarter four.

This scenario assumes that 40 million barrels of strategic petroleum reserve are taken out in the first half, with 13.3 million barrels being returned to strategic reserves by the United States in the third quarter.

Forecasts of oil demand growth for 2021-2022 were unchanged, at 5.7million bpd (respectively) and 4.2million bpd (2022 respectively.