Oil: OPEC/Russia agreement on production quotas
In order not to cause black gold prices to plunge, the 13 member states of OPEC (Organization of Oil Exporting Countries) and Russia have decided to maintain their production quotas.
After a dizzying fall in April 2020, the price of Brent's barrel was close to USD 20 (cf.International transport: who really benefits from the fall in oil prices?), OPEC member countries and Russia agreed to limit their production until the end of June in order to push up prices.
But the stocks accumulated in the world since the beginning of 2020 are large and will be long to dispose of, as global consumption will take time to return to normal levels following the health crisis.
In early June, the Black Gold cartel agreed to extend the maximum production quotas by one month. The OPEC countries and Russia undertake to reduce global supply by 10% until the end of July, then in August the production will be able to return to the increasegradually until April 2022.
Meanwhile, thanks to this reduction in production, the price of the Brent has doubled to about USD 40 per barrel.