Thursday, April 1st, 2021
“Caution is still there with everyone”
Opec + wants to produce more oil again
The oil alliance Opec + is more courageous. The restrictive funding policy will be relaxed in the summer. But the producers are on the lookout for new setbacks from the Corona crisis.
After months of sticking to a production limit, the oil alliance Opec + is cautiously changing course. The energy ministers of the countries agreed at an online conference that the oil alliance, which consists of 23 countries, will increase its production for the months of May, June and July despite the imponderables of the corona crisis. In May and June, 350,000 barrels (159 liters each) more are to be brought onto the market per day than currently. In July, the increase should be 450,000 barrels a day, announced the Kazakh energy ministry.
At the beginning of the meeting, Saudi Arabia had campaigned for the retention of the restrictive funding policy due to the ongoing corona pandemic and its difficult to calculate economic consequences. “Everyone is still cautious,” said the Saudi energy minister, Abdulasis bin Salman. The monthly steps would be in the range of 500,000 barrels a day, which the association had already given itself as room for maneuver in December.
Significantly higher demand for oil expected
Russia, another powerful factor in Opec +, referred to the brightening global economy. This would mean a significantly higher demand for oil, said the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Nowak. “We see that the economy continues to recover.”
The alliance had capped the oil production for a long time by agreement, the reason is the corona-related weak demand. Verbund has a share of around 45 percent of the world’s oil supply.
Oil prices rose on Thursday despite the increase in production. After the prices were able to rise strongly at times during the course of trading, the price gains have recently been significantly lower. A barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent cost $ 63.19. That was 45 cents more than the day before. The price of a barrel of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 59 cents to $ 59.75.
.