OPEC+ Latest: Group Agrees to Keep Oil Production Unchanged

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

The OPEC+ alliance decided to maintain production at current levels, pausing to take stock of a global oil market that’s roiled by uncertainty over Chinese demand and Russian supply.

The 23-nation group has only just implemented the hefty 2 million barrel-a-day reduction agreed at its last gathering in October, and the full impact of that cut is unclear amid severe gyrations in prices. After hitting the lowest level since September on Nov. 28, Brent crude ended up posting its biggest weekly gain in a month.

The volatility has been driven by European Union sanctions on crude exports from OPEC+ member Russia, which come into effect on Monday. At the same time, China is tentatively easing the Covid measures that have eroded consumption in the world’s biggest oil importer.

The agreement came after an online gathering of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which replaced the in-person gathering at its Vienna headquarters that had been planned until this week. Sunday’s virtual meeting took about 20 minutes.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-04/opec-meets-to-discuss-oil-output-as-china-russia-cloud-market-outlook

---

No paywall

Also note this also happened a couple days ago - Venezuela and Chevron sign oil contract in Caracas

[LittleGirl]

1. Of course, because they can. eom

[paleotn]

3. Always the case.

[Yavin4]

2. The developed world has an intense addiction to car dependency

which makes us dependent on the price of oil regardless if it's produced domestically.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Not just oil for gasoline

but also oil for heating (a biggy in Europe and also in some parts of the U.S. where no one has put in a natural gas infrastructure and where no conversion to electric heat has occurred).

And note that petroleum products are also used in plastics.

[NickB79]

5. I wonder if the Saud's still even have much spare capacity left

Their oil fields are old, and after decades of pumping eventually they'll peak out and start to decline.

[Shipwack]

7. That was my first thought too...

It rarely goes above 11,000 BBL/1K*, going all the way back to 1972, and is mostly below 10,000.

*BBL/1K = 1000 barrels, according to a quick search… BBL is alleged by some to stand for “blue barrel”, a relic from when Standard Oil blue barrels were 42 gallons, but others argue the abbreviation dates back to whale oil being a commodity.

https://tradingeconomics.com/saudi-arabia/crude-oil-production

[cstanleytech]

6. Its not just OPEC screwing us its the varies companies as they are keeping prices higher than

they need to be in order to increase their profits even more regardless that it hurts us.