Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait announced this Sunday that from the month of May and until the end of 2023will apply a “voluntary” reduction in oil production in addition to that already agreed at the meeting of the OPEC at the end of last year, official sources reported.
The measure is a strong blow to the world economysince they are three of the world’s largest crude oil producers.
Hard blow of OPEC countries to oil production
Thus, Saudi Arabia it will apply a reduction of half a million barrels per day; Emirates of 144,000 barrels per day; and Kuwait of 128,000 barrels per day, according to the official news agencies of these Arab countries: SPA, WAM and KUNA, respectively, according to the EFE news agency.
They also pointed out that these “voluntary” reductions have been agreed “in coordination with some other participating countries” of OPEC+, which they did not specify.
Oil climbed 8% in the week
Oil prices rose This Friday, March 31, as supplies tightened in some parts of the world and US inflation data indicated that price increases were slowing On a monthly basis, however, crude had its worst result since November.
Brent futures rose 1.6% to $79.94 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for May delivery gained 1.8% to $75.70 a barrel, having gained about 8% on the week.
Data last Friday showed the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.3% in February on a monthly basis.compared with a 0.6% rise in January and an expectation of a 0.4% rise in a Reuters poll.
Signs that inflation is slowing tend to support oil prices, as this could point to less aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed, and increase investor demand for risky assets like commodities. and actions.
Oil prices also rose after producers shut down or reduced output at several fields in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region following the halt of the northern export pipeline.
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With prices recovering from recent lows, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russian-led allies are likely to stick to their existing production deal at a meeting on Monday, sources said.
OPEC pumped 28.90 million barrels per day (bpd) this month, according to a Reuters poll, down 70,000 bpd from February. Production is down more than 700,000 bpd since September.
At current levels, oil prices posted their second straight week of gains, but Brent and WTI also posted monthly falls of 5% and 2% respectively, the steepest since November.
Source: Ambito
