US Weekly Oil Output Down 600,000 BPD Ahead Of Producer Meetings

US Weekly Oil Output Down 600,000 BPD Ahead of Producer Meetings

US crude production was estimated to have fallen by 600,000 barrels per day, weekly data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2020) US crude production was estimated to have fallen by 600,000 barrels per day, weekly data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday.

The announcement comes ahead of meetings by world producers to discuss production cuts to mitigate oil demand lost to the coronavirus (COVD-19 crisis).

US crude production was estimated at 12.4 million barrels daily during the week ended April 3, down from the 13 million barrels per day estimated for the week to March 27, the EIA data showed. US production hit a record high of 13.1 million barrels per day earlier this year.

The weekly EIA data could become an important tool for the United States in meetings this week to discuss what individual oil producing countries could do for production cuts aimed at putting a floor under the oil market, which has fallen about 60 percent on the year on demand lost to the COVID-19 crisis.

US crude oil was trading at $24.40 per barrel by 12:25 p.m. EST (16:25 GMT), versus its 2019 close of $61.06.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is scheduled to hold a video meeting on Thursday with Russia and other allies under the OPEC+ initiative. Energy ministers from the Group of 20 (G-20) countries are to meet on Friday through another video link to discuss the same matter, with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette expected to represent the United States.

Analysts said they expect Brouillette to offer the EIA data as proof and contribution of US cuts to production.

"Brouillette already (likely) gave in today's EIA weekly report (as) the US supply cut contribution to GLOPEC," Olivier Jakob, head of Zug, Switzerland-based energy consultancy Petromatrix said via Twitter, referring to the G-20 meeting.

President Donald Trump, who partly initiated this week's producer meetings on oil after calling Saudi and Russian leaders for action to save the market, said earlier on Monday he was not considering additional US cuts above what was "automatically" happening on the production front.