On Monday, Saudi Arabia and Russia announced that they will voluntarily reduce their oil supplies in August, as the global economic slowdown looms over energy demand prospects.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, said it will extend its oil production cut by at least one million barrels per day until the end of August. The cut, which began last Saturday, was initially scheduled to run through July in an effort to support oil prices.
A responsible source at the Saudi Energy Ministry stated that “Saudi Arabia will extend the voluntary cut of one million barrels per day, which began in July, for another month, covering August, with the possibility of extending it. Therefore, Saudi Arabia’s production in August 2023 will be about 9 million barrels per day,” according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The source added in a statement that “this cut is in addition to the voluntary cut that the Kingdom announced in April 2023, which extends until the end of December 2024,” according to the Saudi agency.
The source confirmed that “this additional voluntary cut is aimed at enhancing the precautionary efforts made by the OPEC+ alliance to support the stability and balance of petroleum markets,” according to the statement.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that his country will voluntarily cut its supplies by 500,000 barrels per day in August by reducing exports.
According to Reuters, citing Novak’s office, Russia will reduce production by this amount, deepening Moscow’s cut of the same volume implemented in March of last year.
