Saudi Arabia will make a deep cut to its output in July on top of a broader OPEC+ deal to limit supply into 2024 as the group seeks to boost flagging oil prices.
The Saudi energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al-Saud, referred to the million-barrel cut as the “Saudi lollipop,” in that it sweetened a deal by fellow oil-producers to curb production.
“I would have to call it the Saudi lollipop, which is a million barrel of reduction for the start, that starts the 1st of July. And that million is also extendable.”
Saudi’s energy ministry said the country’s output would drop to 9 million barrels per day in July from around 10 million barrels in May, the biggest reduction in years.
OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, pumps around 40% of the world’s crude, meaning its policy decisions can have a major impact on oil prices.
A surprise decision to cut supply in April briefly sent international benchmark Brent crude around $9 higher, but prices have since retreated under pressure from concerns about the weakness of the global economy and its impact on demand.
Saudi Arabia is the only member of OPEC+ with sufficient spare capacity and storage to be able to easily increase and curtail output.
