OPEC+ agreed its deepest cuts to oil production since the 2020 COVID pandemic at a Vienna meeting
OPEC has agreed to the biggest cuts in oil output since the height of the global health crisis.
Ministers from the group of oil-producing nations, and allies including Russia, met in Vienna on Wednesday.
That marked their first in-person get-together since lockdowns made them impossible.
They agreed to slash production by 2 million barrels per day. This move could spur a recovery in oil prices.
They’ve fallen from $120 per barrel three months ago, to about $90 now.
But the decision is unlikely to go down well in Washington.
Asked if he was disappointed in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia agreeing to the cuts, Blinken said Washington has a “multiplicity of interests with regard to Saudi Arabia.”
“We are working every single day to make sure to the best of our ability that, again, energy supply from wherever is actually meeting demand in order to ensure that energy is on the market and the prices are kept low,” Blinken said.
It wanted OPEC to pump more oil, to help reduce prices ahead of U.S. midterm elections.
The Biden administration also wants to limit revenues for Russia, as part of moves to punish it for the conflict in Ukraine.
However, Saudi Arabia has refused to condemn Moscow, which is part of the broader OPEC+ grouping.
Market watchers at JPMorgan expect Washington to react with countermeasures by releasing more oil stocks.
The UAE energy minister said Wednesday’s decision was technical, not political.
The Saudis and other OPEC members say it’s aimed at calming market volatility, not targeting any particular price for oil.
