Oil prices climbed 2% on Tuesday as markets weighed August supply cuts by top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia against a weak global economic outlook.
Saudi Arabia on Monday said it would extend its voluntary output cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to August while Russia and Algeria volunteered to lower their August output and export levels by 500,000 bpd and 20,000 bpd, respectively.
If fully implemented, that would bring a combined reduction of 5.36 million bpd from August 2022 – possibly even more because several countries in the OPEC+ producer group are unable to fulfil their output quotas, said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
The total cuts now stand at more than 5 million bpd, or 5% of global oil output.
On Tuesday, Brent crude futures were up $1.49 at $76.14 a barrel by 1520 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.41 at $71.20.
“Clearly, the Saudis are taking proactive and pre-emptive steps to stabilize the price of crude oil as well as see gains to reach $80 a barrel to sustain their domestic budgets,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Houston-based Lipow Oil Associates.
Even so, the market will wait to verify Russia’s announced cuts, and concerns continue that high interest rates will weigh on global demand, Lipow said.
