The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries within the OPEC Plus group announced further cuts in their oil production until the end of 2023, with the aim of supporting the stability of oil markets.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy stated that the Kingdom’s voluntary reduction is a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market. At the same time, media reported that the Kingdom will reduce oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from next May until the end of 2023.

Also, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak stated that Moscow will extend a voluntary cut in oil production by about 500,000 barrels per day until the end of 2023.

Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Algeria also announced that they would voluntarily reduce oil production for the same period of time.

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil stated that “with the aim of taking precautionary measures to meet the challenges facing the global oil market, and to achieve a balance between supply and demand and market stability, the Ministry of Oil decided to reduce voluntary production at a rate of 211 thousand barrels per day starting from May 2023 until the end of this year to maintain balance in the global market.

In a similar step, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said that his country will voluntarily reduce its oil production by 144 thousand barrels per day, starting from May 2023 until the end of this year, in coordination with the countries participating in the “OPEC +” agreement. Al Mazrouei added that this voluntary cut is a precautionary measure in addition to the production cut agreed upon at the 33rd ministerial meeting of the OPEC Plus group on October 2022 with the aim of achieving balance in the oil market.

For his part, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Dr. Badr Al-Mulla said that the State of Kuwait will voluntarily reduce its oil production by 128 thousand barrels per day, starting from next May until the end of 2023, in coordination with the countries participating in the “OPEC +” agreement.

Algeria also decided to reduce by 48,000 barrels per day, and Oman to reduce by 40,000 barrels per day, from May 2023 until the end of 2023.

Last November, OPEC + announced a reduction in its production target by 2 million barrels per day, which is the largest reduction since the early days of the “Covid-19” pandemic in 2020. The same reduction applies to the entire year 2023. It is expected that the application of this reduction in production will lead to an immediate and strong rise in oil prices.

Haitham Al-Ghais, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), says that the organization’s agreement to reduce production is considered one of the important historical decisions taken by the members of the organization to face the various challenges faced by the global oil markets, and the decision will contribute to achieving stability and balance between supply and demand in oil markets.