MOSCOW/LONDON/DUBAI:Saudi Arabia pledged additional, voluntary oil output cuts of one million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March as part of a deal under which most OPEC+ producers will hold production steady in the face of new coronavirus
lockdowns.
Saudi is going beyond its promised cuts as part of the OPEC+ group of producers to support both its own economy and the oil market, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday.
“If there is one way to describe what its voluntary cut means for the market, ‘happy hour’ is a pretty fitting term,” Rystad Energy analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen said in a note.
Benchmark Brent oil prices rose on the news, trading up almost 5% above $53 per barrel at 2023 GMT. [O/R]
The deal – under which most producers will hold output steady – followed two days of talks by OPEC+, which groups OPEC and others including Russia.
Two members – Russia and Kazakhstan – will be allowed to bump up their output by a modest combined 75,000…
