Crude oil prices rose by more than 1% in early trade today following the OPEC+ meeting that took place Sunday.
The influential Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, on Sunday made no changes to its planned oil production cuts for this year, as coalition chair Saudi Arabia announced further voluntary declines.
Oil prices were trading up on Friday afternoon as shorters got a little nervous heading into the OPEC+ weekend, with new rumors circulating about the group’s discussions about another 1 million bpd in production cuts.
OPEC+ is not expected to announce a change in oil production policy at the in-person meeting this weekend, OPEC+ delegates told CNBC ahead of the much-anticipated gathering.
Oil prices have risen after Saudi Arabia said it would make cuts of a million barrels per day (bpd) in July.
If it was Russia’s intention to send oil tumbling after its oil minister last week said that OPEC+ has no intentions of cutting production, in the process inviting another round of shorts and bearish CTAs, well… mission accomplished: on Wednesday oil tumbled more than 3% following the latest dismal Chinese PMI data, and followed a 4.4% drop on Tuesday the black gold is now on pace for its worst month since November 2021.
Days ahead of the key OPEC+ meeting on June 4, the leading producers in the group, Saudi Arabia and Russia, are at odds about output policy.
Russia would prefer its partners of the OPEC+ group to leave oil production unchanged when it meets next week, as Moscow is okay with the current oil prices and production quotas, sources with knowledge of the Russian position told Reuters on Friday.
The OPEC+ voluntary production cuts, on paper promising curtailments amounting to 1.66 million b/d, should have been the main story for May
Crude oil prices began to trade on Thursday with little change from Wednesday’s close as opposing forces kept them stable.