Nine oil-producing countries from the OPEC group will reduce their daily production by a total of 1.66 million barrels (159 liters each) in the coming months. This was officially announced by OPEC in Vienna after a virtual meeting of its market observation committee. The day before, the countries involved in the step had surprisingly and individually announced cuts.

Eight countries, above all Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, want to reduce their oil from May. In addition, Moscow announced that it would not let its existing restrictive subsidy policy expire in June as planned, but would continue it from July.

Kremlin: The aim is to stabilize prices

The cuts are a “precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market,” OPEC said after the meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that the decision was aimed at keeping prices at a certain level.

Oil prices reacted to the announced production cuts by soaring. A barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in June last cost $84.02. That was $4.13 more than Friday. The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May also rose sharply by $4.07 to $79.74.