OPEC agrees to reduce its output

OIL PRICES jumped more than five per cent on Friday as big Middle East producers in OPEC agreed to reduce output to drain global fuel inventories and support the market.

Iran gave OPEC the green light on Friday to reduce oil output by around 0.8 million barrels per day from 2019 after finding a compromise with rival Saudi Arabia over a possible exemption from the cuts, an OPEC source said.

OPEC is seeking support from non-OPEC Russia for supply cuts.

A Russian Energy Ministry source said Moscow was ready to contribute a cut of around 200,000 bpd and sources said other non-OPEC producers could contribute a further 200,000 bpd of output cuts, bringing an overall cut to 1.2 million bpd.

“(A cut of) 1.2 million bpd, if implemented promptly and fully, should be enough to largely attenuate, but not eliminate, expected implied global inventory builds in the first half of next year,” BNP Paribas strategist Harry Tchilinguirian told Reuters Global Oil Forum.

“Given how much expectations were downplayed yesterday, this comes as a welcome surprise for the market,” he added.

Oil output from the world’s biggest producers – OPEC, Russia and the United States – has increased by 3.3 million bpd since the end of 2017 to 56.38 million bpd, meeting almost 60 per cent of global consumption.