Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud told reporters ahead of the OPEC meeting in Vienna on Saturday that the participants will discuss many "exciting" matters
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2023) Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud told reporters ahead of the OPEC meeting in Vienna on Saturday that the participants will discuss many "exciting" matters.
"A lot and exciting," the minister said when asked what the members were going to discuss during the session.
On Friday, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said that OPEC proved that its estimates and forecasts largely coincide with the real oil market dynamics. He added that the organization will discuss the recent market developments during the Saturday meeting in Vienna and "without a doubt" make decisions needed to stabilize the situation.
Although OPEC cannot decide on the fate of the OPEC+ oil output cut deal without its partners outside the organization, the Saturday meeting can determine the group's own internal stance on its future course. The OPEC+ group will hold an oil policy meeting on Sunday, June 4. Although no changes to the oil production deal are expected, Reuters reported on Friday that the OPEC+ group is discussing an additional oil output cut by 1 million barrels per day among other decisions for the meeting.
OPEC+ cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day in May 2020 due to a drop in oil demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2022, the alliance started the final stage of canceling these cuts, but in November it decided to cut the production once again by 2 million barrels per day from the maximum possible level of August. The decision is valid until the end of 2023.
In April, the OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee announced that an additional voluntary reduction in the oil production in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Oman, and Gabon will amount to 1.66 million barrels per day by the end of 2023.
