The eight key members of the OPEC+ alliance, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, on Sunday said they had agreed a further slight hike to their oil production.

The 137,000-barrels-per-day hike will apply from December and remain at that level for the following three months, signifying a "pause" in what had been regular increases since April this year, the group said in a statement following a virtual meeting.

The announced increase, which tallied with analyst expectations, has been seen as a bid by the key members of OPEC+ -- known as the Voluntary Eight (V8) -- to gain greater market share.

Since April, the V8 group -- comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman -- has boosted production by around 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd)

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