Saudi to continue voluntary cut of one million oil barrels a day in December

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An official source from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy announced that the Saudi Arabia will continue the voluntary cut of one million barrels per day, which went into implementation in July and was later extended until the end of December, according to a report by the Saudi Press Agency.

Based on this, the kingdom’s production in December will be approximately nine million barrels per day.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, the source stated that this voluntary cut decision will be reviewed next month to consider extending the cut, deepening the cut, or increasing production.

The source also noted that this cut is in addition to the voluntary cut previously announced by the kingdom in April, which extends until the end of December 2024.

Saudi oil production cut to enable balance in oil markets

The source confirmed that this additional voluntary cut comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC Plus countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets.

Read: Saudi Arabia’s oil production cuts to slowdown growth, says IMF outlook

Also read: Saudi Arabia extends voluntary oil production cuts into September

Meanwhile, a Reuters report in October, stated that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has “stuck to its forecast for relatively strong growth in global oil demand in 2023 in 2024, citing signs of a resilient world economy so far this year and expected further demand gains in China”.

World oil demand will rise by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, compared with growth of 2.44 million bpd in 2023, OPEC said in a monthly report.

A lifting of pandemic lockdowns in China has helped oil demand rise in 2023.