OPEC+ reduces oil production

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers announced on Sunday a voluntary reduction in oil production from May to the end of 2023. In parallel, Russia said it would extend similar restrictions in the country until the end of the year, according to Reuters.

Riyadh announced on Sunday a voluntary 500,000 barrels per day reduction in oil production from May to the end of 2023. In the press release cited by Reuters, the Saudi energy ministry described the move as a precautionary measure to ensure oil market stability.

In parallel with Saudi Arabia, similar steps – also between May and the end of this year – are taken by other OPEC+ oil producers. As Reuters notes, Iraq intends to cut its domestic oil production by 211,000 barrels per day; the United Arab Emirates by 144,000 barrels per day; Kuwait by 128,000 barrels per day; Algeria by 48,000 barrels per day; and Oman by 40,000 barrels per day.

Kazakhstan, too, declared on Sunday that it would reduce its own oil production from May to the end of the year – by 78,000 barrels per day. The energy ministry there conveyed that the move had been agreed upon with other OPEC+ members and “represents a further countermeasure on top of the reductions agreed at the 33rd OPEC Ministerial Meeting on 5 October 2022”.

Shortly after the publication of the decision by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Energy Minister Alexander Novak declared that the country would extend the oil production restrictions in place since March by 500,000 barrels per day to the end of the year.

On March, 21, Novak announced that the production limits originally announced in February would remain in place until the end of June, and on March, 24, he claimed that Russian Federation was close to its production target of 9.5 million barrels per day, Reuters recalled.