Opec+ meets amid speculation of further cut in production

The Opec+ group meets in Vienna on Sunday amid speculation that a further cut in oil production could be on the cards to prop up the faltering oil price.

The combined grouping of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus ten other major oil producers, caught traders on the hop back in April with a production cut of around 1.2mln barrels a day that prompted a spike in the price of crude.

But Reuters reported it is unlikely to repeat the move on Sunday despite a fall in oil prices toward $70 per barrel this week, citing four sources from the alliance.

OPEC+ pumps around 40% of the world’s crude and supplies around 60% of the oil export market.

AJ Bell pointed out that neither Saudi Arabia, the default leader of Opec, nor Russia will want oil prices to sag, even if that is what the West wants, as countries such as the US, UK, Germany, France and Italy grapple with inflation.

It pointed out Saudi Arabia has its welfare and infrastructure programmes to pay for and Moscow needs oil and gas revenues for similar schemes plus the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, has been making hawkish noises about fresh output cuts and although Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has suggested there would be no such moves this time around, OPEC+ has its agenda and oil prices are yet to conform to it, AJ Bell said.

But consumers will be ho