The price of Petroleum Texas intermediate (WTI) shot up 6.01% at the opening of this Monday, up to US$80.22 a barrel, above the barrier of 80 dollars, after the OPEC+ alliance confirmed a cut of 1, 66 million barrels per day as of May.
At 1:00 p.m. GMT (08:00 a.m. Peru time on Monday, March 3), WTI futures contracts for May delivery were earning US$4.55 compared to the previous day’s close.
US benchmark oil, which appreciated more than 9% last week, thanks to fading concerns about the banking sector and a possible recession, and which managed to recover the level of US$70 that it had lost during the brief financial crisis, It shot up today after the unexpected cut announced by the oil-producing countries.
These are “voluntary” reductions, that is, without a binding and consensual agreement within the alliance and will apply from May until the end of 2023.
OPEC specified that the new cut is divided between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which will reduce their pumping by 500,000 barrels per day each, Iraq (211,000 bd), the United Arab Emirates (144,000 bd), Kuwait (128,000 bd), Kazakhstan (78,000 bd ), Algeria (48,000 bd), Oman (40,000 bd), and Gabon (8,000 bd).
In October 2022, the group of 23 countries that make up the organization already agreed to a strong cut of 2 mbd that also caused a rise in black gold.
In addition, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Novak pointed out today that the number of OPEC+ alliance countries that could join the voluntary reduction in crude oil production could increase.
“Other countries could join in and announce additional reductions, if they deem it necessary to stabilize the market,” he said.
According to analyst Michael Zaremski, of the firm Charles Schwab “it seems that OPEC+ is willing to take measures to support oil prices and approach or exceed their preferred price target of US $ 80 per barrel.”
For its part, the specialized publication Insider points out that this movement by the oil cartel “tightens world crude supplies and revives concerns about inflation.”
Source: Larepublica
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