OPEC+ to Pump More Crude

EghtesadOnline: From quiet skies over Europe to sparse traffic in America’s biggest cities, a recovery in global oil demand is faltering amid the resurgence in coronavirus.

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04 August 2020

That poses a particularly delicate challenge for OPEC and its partners, who next week plan to resume some of the crude output halted during the depths of the pandemic, Bloomberg reported.

While the alliance is eager to ramp up oil sales after successfully reviving prices, the relapse in the world economy means that extra supply is arriving at a fragile moment, and could send the market lower again.

“We are in quite a finely balanced place in terms of the scope to increase production,” said Alex Booth, head of research at market intelligence firm Kpler SAS. “You have to have quite a bullish view on the demand recovery to be able to justify any significant increase.”

The OPEC+ alliance -- led by Saudi Arabia and Russia -- took a record 9.7 million barrels of daily output, or roughly 10% of global supply, offline when demand plunged over the spring. They intend to restart about 1.5 million barrels next month.

In theory, it is reasonable for the 23-nation coalition to open the taps a little.

Their stringent cuts have almost tripled international crude prices from the lows struck in late April, lifting Brent crude futures to $43 a barrel.

That is thrown a lifeline to countries reliant on energy sales to finance government spending, and companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc.