Saudi Arabia confirmed on Wednesday that it will extend the voluntary production cut of one million barrels of oil per day that it began implementing in July until the end of 2023, according to Saudi Energy Ministry sources.
“The kingdom’s production will be around nine million barrels per day in November and December,” the sources said, according to the official Saudi news agency SPA.
The Energy Ministry said the Arab country and the world’s largest crude oil exporter “will review the decision on the cut next month to see whether it will reduce oil or produce more,” and that the one million cut barrels is in line with another unilateral voluntary reduction by Saudi Arabia. introduced in April last year and in force until the end of December 2024.
“The additional voluntary reduction strengthens the precautionary efforts of the OPEC+ countries (OPEC alliance plus ten external allies) with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets,” she added, according to SPA.
This extension of the production limit, which comes on top of the production cuts the Arab country has committed to with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is expected to further increase oil prices.
Saudi Arabia, which accounts for about 17% of the world’s oil reserves, has repeatedly cut production under the OPEC+ policy, which the Arab kingdom is pursuing jointly with Russia.
OPEC oil production fell 3% in July to 27,310 million barrels per day, 836,000 barrels per day less than in June, according to estimates published by the Vienna-based oil body.
In addition to Saudi Arabia’s additional cuts and Russia’s pledge to also cut exports between July and September, the OPEC+ alliance is keeping production cuts in place to a total of 3.6 million barrels per day, about 3.6% of world oil production.
Source: DN
