UAE, other oil producers announce surprise production cuts – News

In October 2022, OPEC+ agreed to cut production by 2 million barrels per day from November to the end of the year

The United Arab Emirates and other OPEC+ producers announced oil production cuts of 1.64 million bpd on Sunday ahead of Monday’s meeting.

In addition to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria and Kazakhstan also announced unexpected production cuts.

Oil-producing countries said they had made the decision to cut production from May until the end of the year in an effort to bring stability to energy markets. Crude oil, which traded near $90 a barrel earlier this year, has fallen below $80 a barrel following the collapse of Bank of America last month.

The production cuts surprised the market, as some analysts expected energy producers to wait for financial markets to calm down after the bank failures before announcing output cuts.

In October 2022, OPEC+ agreed to cut production by 2 million barrels per day from November to the end of the year.

Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, announced a voluntary production cut of 144,000 barrels per day until the end of 2023.

“This voluntary move is a precautionary measure to ensure market balance and is in line with the production cuts agreed at the 33rd OPEC and Non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) on October 5, 2022,” Al Mazrouei said.

Among other oil producers, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry announced a voluntary cut in output of 500,000 barrels per day from May until the end of 2023.

Saudi Arabia said it was “a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market”.

Emirates NBD Research said in a report earlier that for most of this year, oil prices have vacillated between support for China’s reopening of trade and pressure from a hawkish central bank and tighter monetary policy.

Oil prices were expected to open higher on Monday as the OPEC+ decision and U.S. energy sources showed deteriorating activity in the first quarter of 2023. From January to March.

The OPEC+ group is scheduled to meet via video conference on Monday.