OPEC+ extends oil output cuts into 2025

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed Sunday to extend a voluntary production cut of 2.2 million barrels of crude oil a day into 2025.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — a group of leading oil producers known as OPEC+ — agreed Sunday to extend a voluntary production cut of 2.2 million barrels of crude oil a day into 2025. The cuts, first agreed in December, were due to expire at the end of this month. They came on top of previously agreed reductions of 3.66 million barrels per day announced in 2022 and 2023 as the group — led by Saudi Arabia and Russia — tried to counter slowing demand and rising output from the United States. The group also released its 2025 production requirements for member and nonmember countries, which were essentially the same as this year’s. The United Arab Emirates’ production quota increased by 300,000 barrels per day. The uptick “will be phased in gradually” from January through September 2025, the group said. Despite the OPEC+ cuts, equivalent to about 5.7% of global crude supply, and ongoing tensions in the Middle East, global oil prices have fallen by about 10% since hitting a five-month high in early April. The price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded at $82 a barrel on Friday, down from $91 in early April when a suspected Israeli airstrike on Iran’s embassy in Syria sent jitters through oil markets. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the US benchmark, has dropped from nearly $87 per barrel to $78.