ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries on Sunday agreed to extend their voluntary oil production cuts until the end of 2025.
Members of the oil cartel are currently cutting production by 5.86 million barrels per day, in an effort to stabilize global market price. The cuts have been in place since ministers of the member states met in Vienna in October 2022 and agreed to slash oil production by two million barrels per day.
Additional cuts of 1.65 million barrels per day were announced in April 2023.
At a ministerial meeting in Riyadh, OPEC+ agreed to prolong the cuts of 3.66 million barrels per day, which comprises the initial two million barrels per day and the additional 1.65 million, until the end of 2025. The cuts were set to expire at the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman agreed “to extend the additional voluntary cuts of 1.65 million barrels per day that were announced in April 2023, until the end of December 2025,” according to a statement from the Saudi energy ministry.
They will also extend their cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day until the end of September 2024, before gradually phasing out the cuts on a monthly basis until the end of September 2025, the statement added.
In compliance with OPEC+ production cuts, Iraq announced in April 2023 that it was voluntarily slashing oil production by 211,000 barrels per day
The cuts have been in place since ministers from the 13-nation OPEC group and Russian-led exporters met in Vienna in October 2022 and agreed to slash oil production by two million barrels per day.
Western nations, especially the United States, have repeatedly accused OPEC of manipulating the market and driving up oil prices. Washington has called on member states such as Saudi Arabia to reconsider decisions to cut production.
Oil prices rose following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the US repeatedly urged members of the oil cartel to increase their production in order to stabilize the market.
Updated at 9:15 am
