by Maha El Dahan and Vladimir Soldatkin
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and Russia announced on Wednesday their intention to extend, on a voluntary basis, the reduction of their oil production quotas until the end of the year in order to support crude prices .
This decision comes a few hours before the ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies.
According to sources, however, it is unlikely that the organization’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee will change its current policy on oil production, as the cartel has started to reduce its extractions since last year in order to stabilize the market. .
Saudi Arabia, the main member of OPEC, has said it wants to continue reducing its production by one million barrels per day (bpd) for the month of November and until the end of the year.
The kingdom’s production for November and December will be around nine million bpd, the Energy Ministry said in a statement.
“This voluntary decision to reduce (production) will be re-examined next month in order to assess an amplification of the reduction or an increase in production,” we can read in its press release.
Since July, Riyadh has decided to make voluntary cuts in its production and has since renewed this operation every month.
Russia, for its part, announced that it would continue to reduce its crude exports by 300,000 bpd until the end of this year and that it would review in November its decision to voluntarily reduce oil production by 500,000 bpj, decided in April.
On the market, the barrel of Brent fell by 0.99%, to 90.02 dollars, while the WTI (West Texas Intermediate crude) lost 1.17% to 88.19 dollars, the macroeconomic context and the fear of a drop in demand taking precedence over the tightening of crude supply.
“Oil prices are falling again amid continued concerns over high interest rates, hurting the demand outlook and as investors look forward to the OPEC meeting,” he said. Fiona Cincotta, analyst at City Index.
(Report by Maha El Dahan and Vladimir Soldatki, written by Tala Ramadan, Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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