Russia Says No to Deeper OPEC Cuts, Oil Drops

• Russia Says No to Deeper OPEC Cuts, Oil Drops

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plans to deepen OPEC+ cuts by another 1.2 million barrels per day this week may have just suffered a huge setback if the report coming out of Vienna, Austra is true.

According to a Wall Street Journal reporter, Russia said it might support extending current agreement due to expire in March 2020, the nation may not support deeper cuts.

Iranian oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, on Wednesday said the market is presently imbalanced with oversupply of crude oil, hence there is a need for balance.

“There is no doubt that there is an imbalance in the supply and demand of oil. Right now, the supply in the market is greater than demand,” Zanganeh said. “It’s necessary for OPEC and non-OPEC to make all their efforts to balance the market.”

Ministers from both OPEC and non-OPEC are due to meet later this week to decide on additional cuts or extension of present accord to support weak oil prices.

“Based on the recommendation of the Joint Technical Committee and the secretariat, there must be a decrease of at least 500,000 barrels a day approximately in oil production,” Zanganeh said.

Brent crude oil, against which Nigerian oil is priced, pulled back from $53.85 per barrel it traded on Tuesday to $52.16 as shown above following the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of OPEC+ meeting.