The Saudi Ministry of Energy announced, on Thursday, the extension of the voluntary oil production cut of one million barrels per day, for an additional month, indicating the possibility of a new extension after that, or an increase in this cut, as part of an attempt to support crude prices.
And an official source in the Ministry of Energy announced in a statement, “The extension of the voluntary cut of one million barrels per day, which began to be implemented in July, for another month, to include the month of September, with the possibility of extending or extending and increasing this cut.”
The same source explained, according to what was reported by the Saudi Press Agency, that “this reduction is in addition to the voluntary reduction that the Kingdom had previously announced in April 2023 and extends until the end of December 2024.”
He stressed that this additional voluntary reduction comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by the “OPEC Plus” countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets.
In April, several OPEC + countries decided to voluntarily cut production by more than one million barrels per day, in a surprising move that supported prices for a short period.
These efforts did not succeed in raising prices in the manner targeted by the producing countries, which are part of this alliance.
Since the beginning of the year, the price of a barrel of Brent crude has fallen by 11 cents, due to the slow economic recovery in China, according to Agence France-Presse.
This decline reflects the impact of the decision of a coalition that includes the G7 countries, the European Union and Australia to set a price ceiling in December 2022.
Saudi Arabia is counting on high oil prices to finance an ambitious agenda through which it wants to move away from dependence on fossil fuels.
And the giant Saudi oil company, Aramco, announced a total profit of $ 161.1 billion last year, which allowed the Kingdom to achieve its first annual budget surplus in nearly a decade.
2023-08-03 13:28:37
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