Saudi Aramco, the Saudi oil giant, decided to postpone the announcement of the price of crude exports in May. The Kingdom was seeking to obtain a commitment from global producers by coordinating the reduction of huge oil supplies.
On Sunday, dealers were waiting for the announcement of the new prices for May.
Usually, Aramco issues official selling prices by the fifth of each month. Moreover, it is setting the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti, and Iraqi materials. The decision to postpone came after Mexico’s pending decision to agree to reduce oil production.
However, Rashid Abanmi, an expert in the oil sector, said that Aramco’s decisions would align with the OPEC+ agreement.
Officials are hoping for Mexico’s approval
Thamer Al-Ghadban, the Deputy Prime Minister and Iraqi Minister of Oil said that the participating countries in the OPEC + meeting agreed on the measure for reducing oil quantities. They would be in accordance with the members’ shares for the production of October 2018. Furthermore, the reduction will be calculated based on this month. Still, there was a technical problem related to the quantities produced by Mexico this month. As a result, it led to a delay until Mexico approved to sign the agreement.
The prime minister hoped that Saudi Arabia would influence and persuade Mexico to agree on reduction. Hopes are also placed on a number of countries outside OPEC and OPEC+. They include Armenia, Canada, Brazil, Norway, and others, to reduce their production by five million barrels per day. If that happened, the total reduction would be 15 million barrels per day. It would create stability and balance in global markets.
Suhail Al Mazrouei, UAE Energy Minister, said that the decision to reduce the largest production in the history of OPEC will have a major impact on rebalancing the oil market.
Last Sunday, Saudi Aramco postponed announcing the official selling prices for its raw materials for the month of May until the tenth of April. The delay in announcing prices for the second time in a row reflects the Kingdom’s flexibility to reach a global agreement to reduce production.
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