Icon: enlarge
Oil pumps in Oklahoma
Photo: epa Larry W. Smith / dpa
The surprising prospect of a further reduction in oil production pushed prices up sharply on Thursday.
The North Sea variety Brent and the US variety WTI each rose by more than five percent to around 67 and 64 dollars per barrel (159 liters), respectively.
In January, 23 states led by Saudi Arabia and Russia (Opec +) significantly cut oil production in order to stabilize the market.
The alliance has a share of around 45 percent of the world's oil supply.
In current consultations, Saudi Arabia has now offered to extend its cuts of one million barrels a day into April, Opec announced.
Overall, they also want to keep current production at the current level in the coming month.
Only Russia and Kazakhstan were approved for moderate production expansions, it said.
In view of the recovery in oil prices, Opec + had actually discussed an increase in production volumes by 500,000 barrels per day.
In advance, however, some countries had expressed concerns about the risk of new setbacks in the fight against the corona pandemic.
The important oil producing country Saudi Arabia therefore pleaded for a cautious approach.
"The uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery has not decreased," said the Saudi energy minister, Abdulasis bin Salman, at the start of the online meeting of the 23 member states.
Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Nowak emphasized that the situation is now much better than it was a few months ago.
But he also pointed out that the spread of the coronavirus and the economic consequences are difficult to calculate.
However, it is uncertain how long the subsidy will remain restricted.
According to insiders, a new meeting will take place as early as April.
In this case, the procedure for the month of May and beyond should be agreed.
Icon: The mirror
ssu / Reuters
