Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of what is known as OPEC+ recommended a cut in oil production today. The group’s meeting ended without an agreement on the size of the proposed cut. But Russia did agree to participate in the production curbs for six months beginning in January.
Ministers from the core OPEC group, which doesn’t include Russia (the biggest producer in OPEC+), will meet on Thursday to seek agreement on exactly who will cut and by how much. Speculation has centered on cuts of between 1 million and 1.3 million barrels a day with the bulk of the cut coming from Saudi Arabia. The last time the OPEC+ group agreed to reduce production, in late 2016, it agreed to reduce production by 1.8 million barrels a day.
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed down 0.85% today at $52.80 a barrel. International benchmark Brent crude fell 0.97% to $61.48 a barrel.
