Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed a preliminary deal to extend existing record oil production cuts by one month while raising pressure on countries with poor compliance to deepen their cuts

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said that recently announced oil output cuts by major Gulf Arab producers would likely not be enough to balance global markets as coronavirus lockdowns hollow out demand

OPEC+ meets next in early June to decide on its output policy. Under the deal, the exporting group is set to scale back the cuts to 7.7 million barrels per day from July until December

Energy giant Saudi Aramco posted a 25% slump in first-quarter profits and said the coronavirus crisis which triggered a crash in oil prices would weigh heavily on demand in the year ahead

The Saudi Arabia energy ministry has directed Aramco to reduce its crude oil production for June by an extra voluntary amount of 1 million barrels per day, on top of the reduction already committed under the OPEC+ deal

Russia’s oil output in the first five days of May fell to 8.75 million barrels per day, close to its production target of 8.5 million daily barrels for May and June under a global deal to cut crude supplies

Saudi Arabia said it is monitoring oil markets and is ready to take extra measures to stabilize them along with OPEC+ allies and other oil producers

Investors sold the May futures contract due to expire on Tuesday in a series of waves. At one point the contract hit negative $40. The crude oil had ended the day at a negative $37.63 a barrel

The International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy watchdog for the world’s most industrialised nations, may announce purchases of up to several million barrels to buoy the deal

The energy minister of Western Europe’s largest oil producer will announce its decision on whether to slash crude output soon, potentially adding its weight to a global push to shore up prices