OPEC+ members to reduce the oil exports in a bid to boost prices
However, sweeping cutbacks from OPEC+ and individual member countries since October 2022 have not made lasting changes to oil prices because of concerns about too much crude circulating in a weakening global economy, which could weigh on the thirst for oil for travel and industry.
The market even shrugged off the new move, though it amounts to roughly 2% of global supply.
Jorge Leon, senior vice president of oil market research for Rystad Energy, called it a “bit of disappointing meeting” for OPEC+ and a “bittersweet” one for Saudi Arabia in particular because it couldn’t convince the whole group to commit to production cuts.
The market also was let down, because it “was likely expecting a deal covering the first half of next year,” he said.
Saudi Arabia led the deepening voluntary cuts Thursday, extending its reduction of 1 million barrels per day through March. It was followed by Russia, which is cutting 500,000 barrels per day of crude and refined oil products, and then Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman with smaller amounts.
Russia wants higher oil prices to boost the main way it fills its war chest against Ukraine, while the Saudis have to earn nearly $86 per barrel to meet their planned spending goals, according to the latest estimate from the International Monetary Fund.
Saudi Arabia is trying to fund an ambitious overhaul of the kingdom’s economy, reduce its dependence on oil and create jobs for a young population.
But the international benchmark Brent crude has stayed in the low- to mid-$80 range in recent weeks and fell more than 2% to $80.91 a barrel following the meeting. U.S. crude also dropped 2.5% to $75.90.
The expanded cuts were expected to keep crude prices in the same range of $80 to $85 a barrel for the first half of the year, Leon said.
Lower oil prices have allowed U.S. gas prices to fall or stay steady since Sept. 19, AAA said. Gas is averaging just below $3.25 a gallon, the motor club said, down about 7% from a month ago.
But that’s still higher than when President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, when prices were averaging about $2.40 a gallon. High inflation has been a political challenge for Biden going into the 2024 election, prompting him to say this week that efforts to improve supply chains and reduce price pressures are a priority.
“President Biden is focused on prices for American consumers, which have been coming down steadily,” the White House said in a statement Thursday after the OPEC+ meeting.
U.S. oil production has hit records as OPEC+ has cut back, with producers outside the group expected to keep leading global growth in oil supply next year, the International Energy Agency said.
For instance, daily production in the U.S. averaged 13 million barrels a day in August, an increase of more than 1 million barrels from a year ago, according to the latest monthly figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The risk is growing that production cuts could reduce the influence of OPEC+ over oil supplies as other countries boost their output.
“The kingdom is balancing the desire to keep prices high by limiting supply with the knowledge that doing so will lead to a further drop in overall market share,” Leon said.
Bringing in Brazil, which the IEA also said has been producing record amounts of oil this year, would give the 23-member OPEC+ a leg up.
Adding Brazil’s oil would bring the amount of global production controlled by OPEC+ up to 62%, similar to the share held by the organization when Russia joined in the mid-2010s, Leon said.
Jose Chrispiniano, press secretary for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said the invitation was under analysis.
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Knickmeyer reported from Washington. AP writers Mauricio Savarese in São Paulo and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.
This article was reported by AP
