06 Sep 2024
RIYADH: Eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, agreed on Thursday to extend their voluntary supply cuts until the end of November, postponing a planned output increase amid falling crude prices.
The eight OPEC+ nations are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.
Their voluntary supply cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day will be extended “for two months until the end of November 2024,” the alliance said in a statement.
US inventories
US crude oil inventories fell to their lowest since September 2023 as imports dropped, while gasoline stockpiles rose with the end of the summer driving season, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.
Crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 6.9 million barrels to 418.3 million barrels in the week ending Aug. 30, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 993,000-barrel draw.
Net US crude imports fell last week by 853,000 bpd to 2 million bpd, the EIA said, while exports rose 85,000 bpd to 3.8 million bpd.
US crude oil futures and Brent crude futures extended gains following the report, rising 2 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for US futures fell by 1.1 million barrels, the EIA said.
Refinery crude runs rose by 36,000 bpd in the week, while refinery utilization rates were unchanged at 93.3 percent of total capacity.