OPEC and allies to ease cuts, allow more oil production

NEW YORK (AP) — Ministers from the OPEC cartel have agreed to allow more oil to flow from the taps, saying demand for oil is growing as economies take steps to reopen.

But they also cautioned that they could revisit the decision in an emergency meeting if there are serious lockdowns that further reduce demand for oil.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other nations agreed to ease up on cuts during a video conference Wednesday. They chose to stick with a production schedule they had crafted in a previous meeting which allows participating countries to produce more oil in August than they have in the past few months.

The OPEC nations and their allies will cut production by at least 7.7 million barrels per day in August, essentially putting about 2 million more barrels per day on the market than they did in July, analysts said.

“We should not be complacent,” said Abdelmadjid Attar, Algeria’s minister of energy, during the meeting. “Oil market balance is progressively improving...But risks and uncertainties are huge, be they related to the pandemic or to the economic consequences.”

OPEC, which has 13 member states, is largely dominated by oil-rich Saudi Arabia. There are additional countries involved in the so-called OPEC Plus group, which has been led by Russia.

Together, the oil-producing nations had agreed to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day, which amounts to about 10% of global oil supply, through the end of July. Those deep cuts were enacted in April as the world stopped flying and commuting during the pandemic, cutting back dramatically on oil consumption.

It’s unclear whether there’s enough demand to warrant OPEC putting more oil on the market, said Jack Rousseau, managing director at Clearview Energy...