The United States would like to see oil production increase, including from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the top official in US energy diplomacy said Monday.
“As the world’s economies recover” from the coronavirus pandemic, “consumption (of oil) will increase,” explained the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Energy and the Environment, José Fernández, to the margin of the energy conference CERAWeek, in Houston, Texas).
“We would like more production” of crude oil globally, including OPEC+, meaning OPEC and its allies in the OPEC+ deal, the official said.
An increase in price compared to 2018
OPEC+ decided at the beginning of October to reduce its production by two million barrels per day and has not changed this level since then.
The price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark US variety, is now worth around a third less than it was a year ago, in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But it is more than 40% higher during 2019 at the same time, and almost 30% compared to 2018.
Between the beginning of September 2021 and the beginning of January 2023, the government of President Joe Biden resorted to the US strategic reserves (SPR) about 250 million barrels, offered for sale on the market, to alleviate prices.
The US head of state regularly advocated last year for an increase in the volumes produced by OPEC+, but the cartel has not increased its quotas in six months.
In February, the organization’s crude production, according to Reuters estimates, was almost two million barrels per day lower than in February 2019. OPEC forecasts demand growth of 2.32 million barrels per day in 2023 compared to last year.
Source: BFM TV
