Saudi Arabia "Cutting 1 Million Barrels More Oil Per Day in June Than OPEC+ Agreement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Energy announced on the 11th (local time) that it has instructed the state-owned oil company Aramco to reduce its oil production by an additional 1 million barrels per day starting in June, beyond the cuts agreed upon by OPEC+ (a coalition of OPEC and 10 major oil-producing countries).

Therefore, Aramco's average oil production in June is expected to be around 7.5 million barrels per day.

A Saudi oil ministry official told a foreign media outlet, "Aramco's voluntary additional production cuts aim to encourage OPEC+ member countries and other oil producers (such as the United States and Canada) to fulfill their reduction responsibilities properly."

OPEC+ held a ministerial video conference on the 12th of last month in response to the sharp decline in oil demand due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), deciding to cut production by 9.7 million barrels per day from May 1 to June 30.

Saudi Arabia reduced its production to 8.5 million barrels per day in May. Under the OPEC+ agreement, Saudi Arabia's baseline production was set at 11 million barrels per day. At the time of the agreement, Saudi Arabia was producing 12.3 million barrels per day. Therefore, based on April figures, Saudi Arabia's actual production cut was about 3.8 million barrels per day.

Compared to April, Saudi Arabia will have cut oil production by 4.8 million barrels per day (39%) in June.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.