The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC+ producers are hoping to reduce daily oil output by 20 million barrels per day (bpd), and not by 10 million (bpd) as recently agreed on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday.
"Having been involved in the negotiations, to put it mildly, the number that OPEC+ is looking to cut is 20 Million Barrels a day, not the 10 Million that is generally being reported,” Trump said on Twitter.
The U.S. president said if "anything near this happens [cuts of 20 million barrels], and the world gets back to business from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Energy Industry will be strong again and far faster than currently anticipated.”
Trump also thanked all participants, particularly Russia and Saudi Arabia, for their collaboration towards reducing output.
OPEC and its allies reached an agreement late Sunday to cut their collective oil production by a record level of 10 million barrels per day (bpd) starting next month to balance the oil market.
The Saudi-led OPEC bloc of 13 countries and the Russian-led non-OPEC group that has 10 participants came to an agreement after four days of intense negotiations to lower their oil output in order to mitigate coronavirus’ blow at a time of low global oil demand and falling crude prices.
The group, known as OPEC+, intends to lower crude oil production by 10 million bpd beginning on May 1 for an initial period of two months, then by 8 million bpd from July to December 2020, and later by 6 million bpd from January 2021 to April 2022.
The deal is a "commitment of the producers in the OPEC+ group to stabilize energy markets and acknowledged the importance of international cooperation in ensuring the resilience of energy systems," OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said in a statement.
Under Sunday's agreement, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia is set to lower its oil production by 3.5 million bpd, from 12 million bpd to 8.5 million bpd. Non-OPEC leader Russia will cut its output by 1.8 million bpd, from 10.3 million bpd to 8.5 million bpd, according to local sources.
(Anadolu Agency, April 13, 2020)
