OPEC+ Countries to Continue With Voluntary Cuts in Oil Production
By Shubhendra Anand , 11 January, 2024
Major oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia have continued to cut back on oil exports in 2023. These cutbacks were expected to extend till the end of 2024. The OPEC+ countries revealed their consent to voluntary cuts in oil production by 2.2 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2024.
According to studies, the United States oil drillers are expecting more profits with the new decision of OPEC on oil production cuts in 2023. The oil drillers are more hopeful about the earnings due to oil production cuts in the first quarter of 2024 by different OPEC+ countries, as reported in December 2023. Another survey shows that the total number of actively working drilling increased to 3 in the United States in 2023. The number of drilling rigs rose to 625 in the first week of December 2023. In contrast to the increase in drilling rigs towards the end of 2023, there was a loss of 159 drilling rigs actively working in 2022.
The sources show Benchmark global oil prices settled at 2 percent due to voluntary reductions in oil production. According to analysts, the oil market has less expectation of the longevity of the cutbacks on oil production in 2023. OPEC had discussions in December 2023 regarding the reductions in oil production in 2024. The surplus of oil production from Saudi Arabia was set to reduce by 1 million barrels per day by the end of January 2024.
According to survey reports, oil prices started trading in December 2023 after OPEC+ delivered the news of a voluntary cutback of oil over 60,000 barrels per day from January 2024. Simultaneously, Saudi Arabia and Russia are supposed to have reductions by 1.5 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2024. The growth in the use of
electric vehicles in transportation is expected to decrease the oil demand. As per the forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA), there is a slowdown in the demand for oil in 2024.
Crude Oil Spot Prices