By Clifford Krauss
DUBAI – Saudi Arabia, Russia and their oil producing allies announced Sunday (2) that they would cut production by nearly 1.2 million barrels of crude a day, or more than 1% of world supplies, in an apparent effort to boost prices.
The move was unexpected because leaders of the group, known collectively as OPEC+, had said in recent days that they did not intend to make any changes in their policies. While the announcement was a surprise, its significance may be slight, especially if the global economy slows.
The alliance produced nearly 2 million barrels below its supply target in February, the last month with official output figures. “We expect shortfalls to continue,” said Ha Nguyen, a global oil analyst for S&P Global Commodity Insights.
There have been persistent reports that Russia is struggling to keep up production without the benefit of Western service companies that have wound down their operations since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago. Saudi production has also been below its production quota set by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in recent months.
Taking up the slack in supplying the 100 million-barrel-a-day global market are Brazil, Canada, Guyana, Norway and the United States. All are increasing their oil production.
Still, the OPEC+ action has symbolic importance at a time when oil prices have fallen more than a third below levels immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February. OPEC+ members may be responding to growing fears of a recession this year in the wake of the failure of several American and European banks as well as central bankers’ continued efforts to tame inflation. Oil demand has also been undercut by strikes in France, including at refineries.
Saudi Arabia and Russia will lead in making the announced cuts, with declines of 500,000 barrels each, followed by Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Some analysts said the move could spur more investor speculative interest in oil futures and help drive oil prices higher in coming weeks.
-New York Times
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