According to a report in Reuters, OPEC+ production leaders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stand ready to deliver a “significant increase” in oil output “should the world face a severe supply crisis this winter,” sources familiar with the thinking of the top Gulf exporters told Reuters in an exclusive report.
This week, the OPEC+ group of producing nations decided on Wednesday to raise oil output by a marginal 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), a small increase for the group. The increase is equivalent to 0.1% of global demand.
Despite higher prices, oil’s price on international indices has receded from multi-year highs seen in March. UK-based Brent Crude hit $123 dollars on March 7th, but settled around $100 again on Thursday.
Per the Reuters report:
“Three sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Saudi Arabia and the UAE could pump “significantly more”, but would only do so if the supply crisis worsened….With possibly no gas in Europe this winter, with a potential price cap on Russian oil sales in the New Year, we can’t be throwing every barrel on the market at the moment,” one of the sources said.
