OPEC+ agrees to extend production cuts in bid to boost oil prices
OPEC+ on Sunday tentatively agreed to extend all production curbs through the end of the year in an attempt to shore up oil prices, delegates said, as top producers in the group inched toward a deal to cut output into 2025. The expected agreement comes on the same day the group’s kingpin, Saudi Arabia, launched a giant sale of shares in its national oil champion that will yield billions to help fund the kingdom’s economic transformation.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, which has longstanding official reductions of 3.66 million barrels a day, agreed to keep collective curbs until the end of 2024, the delegates said. Some top producers in the group are also finalizing a deal to extend voluntary cuts into 2025, currently around 2.2 million barrels a day, the delegates said.
The voluntary cuts, which were set to end in late 2024, include a production cut of one million barrels a day from top producer Saudi Arabia, first implemented in July last year. The curbs are aimed at bolstering prices and avoiding a global surplus in a context of rising output from other nonmember producers, particularly the U.S., and concerns over demand amid high interest rates and inflation.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, currently trades around $83 a barrel, some way off its intraday high for the year to date of $91.17 on April 5, while the U.S. oil gauge, West Texas Intermediate, is at $79 a barrel.
Both benchmarks regained some ground last week supported by market expectations of OPEC+ cuts and elevated tensions in the Middle East, but failed to gather significant momentum. Saudi Arabia on Sunday started selling less than 1% in state-run oil giant Aramco, potentially
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