Kuwait announces decision to cut oil production by 1st May

Kuwait has taken a “sovereign decision” to begin cutting oil output ahead of 1^st May, said Khaled al-Fahel, the Kuwaiti Oil Minister.

Kuwait supports collective action, consensus among OPEC member states and the OPEC+ agreement, the Minister said, and confirmed that it abides by its output quotas as agreed upon in previous deals over the past years.

Kuwait “felt responsibility to respond to market conditions” and acted on its own, the minister said.

He called for maintaining team work spirit and to face the challenges that lie ahead which emanates from the coronavirus outbreak impact on the global oil demand.

At present, combined efforts are required within OPEC and partners in OPEC+ the minister said, and described the phase as unprecedented in history of oil.

On 13^th April OPEC and non-OPEC partners agreed to reduce their combined oil production by 9.7million bpd in May and June. For the next six months from 1^st July to 31^st December, this year, the total production will be eased to 7.7 mn bpd, after which a 5.8 million bpd adjustment will be done for a period of 16 months from 1^st Jan 2021 to 30^th April 2022.

The OPEC statement said that both Saudi Arabia and Russia will lower their individual productions from level of 11 million bpd.

The current deal will remain valid until 30^th April 2022 with a possible extension in December 2021.

The 10^th extraordinary OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held through video-conference under the Chairmanship of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy.