Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+), at a meeting on Sunday, reduced the output of laggards like Nigeria as the group decided to cut overall production targets from 2024 by a further total of 1.4 million barrels per day.
Saudi Arabia will make deep production cuts in July as part of the broader output-limiting OPEC+ deal, according to the Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz.
He said the cut of 1 million barrels per day by the Kingdom could be extended beyond July if needed.
“This is a Saudi lollipop,” he said, after earlier warning short sellers that the group would hurt or “ouch” them.
The group reached a deal on output policy after seven hours of talks, and it was decided that they would lower the targets for some other countries, most of them African, to bring them into line with their actual current production levels.
Nigeria, alongside Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Malaysia, and Sudan, all saw their allocations cut.
In reverse, a winner emerged in the form of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the gulf producer was allowed to raise output.
UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei thanked his colleagues for the hike to its quota and expressed the country’s loyalty to the cartel.
He noted that “We will always support OPEC and will always stay together.”
In April, it also agreed to a surprise voluntary cut of 1.6 million barrels per day that took effect in May until the end of 2023.
