DUBAI/MOSCOW (Reuters) – The world’s two main oil exporters, Russia and Saudi Arabia, announced on Monday a cut in their August supply, supporting markets so far worried about the slowdown in developed economies.

Saudi Arabia will extend the 1 million barrel per day (bpd) production cut that was put in place in May and was due to end at the end of July for another month, it said. the official SPA press agency.

“The kingdom’s production for the month of August 2023 will be around 9 million barrels per day,” said an official source from the Ministry of Energy quoted by SPA.

Saudi Arabia was extracting 9.96 million barrels per day (bpd) as of June 30, according to Eikon data.

Shortly after Saudi Arabia’s announcement, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that Russia would cut exports by 500,000 bpd in August.

“As part of efforts to ensure the balance of the oil market, Russia will voluntarily reduce its oil supply in August by 500,000 barrels per day by reducing its exports to world markets by the same amount,” the minister said. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

His spokeswoman declined to say whether Russian oil production would also decline by the same amount.

Russia was producing 9.11 million bpd at the end of May, according to Eikon data.

These cuts will take place in the middle of the “driving season”, a period during which the demand for oil in the United States is increasing significantly.

Oil markets, worried so far about the consequences of the slowdown in developed economies on demand, rebounded with the announcements.

At 10:10 GMT, Brent gained 1.37% to 76.46 dollars a barrel, while American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 1.46% to 71.65 dollars.

(Report Maha El Dahan and Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Guy Faulconbridge and Kevin Liffey in Moscow, Corentin Chapron, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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