Riyadh goes it alone on oil cutsCrude oil and natural gas rebounded this morning after Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, announced a million-barrel-per-day production cut at this weekend’s OPEC Plus summit in an effort to boost sagging energy prices.
But the negotiations that led to the move — and a more complicated adjustment of the cartel’s production quotas — hint at the tensions between many of the world’s top crude-producing countries, with global oil prices in the balance.
The United Arab Emirates saw its production quota grow, after years of lobbying for such a move, while other countries had their targets reduced.
The arrangement that emerged on Sunday was a Riyadh-led compromise, which Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi oil minister, called “a Saudi lollipop” that is meant to sweeten prices for oil traders.
Though the cut is meant only for July, it could be extended.
Persons:
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman
Organizations:
United, United Arab Emirates
Locations:
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, United Arab, Saudi