Saudi energy minister says voluntary oil cuts were for June only, served their purpose

The deeper voluntary cuts by Gulf OPEC members have served their purpose, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Monday.

“Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are not planning to extend voluntary cuts in oil output into July as they were for June only,” the energy minister said during an OPEC press conference.

He said that OPEC+ members need to remain vigilant on inventories, pointing out OPEC+ needs to play a proactive role in restoring balance to the global oil markets.

A strong Saudi official selling price (OSP) is an indication of a return of global oil demand, Prince Abdulaziz noted.

According to data compiled by Argaam, OPEC+ agreed in principle on two-month output cut of 9.7 million barrels per day (mbpd) as of May. On June 6, OPEC+ agreed to extend the production cuts until July.

In May, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy directed Saudi Aramco to reduce its crude production for June by an extra voluntary amount of 1 mbpd, in addition to the reduction committed by the Kingdom under the above OPEC+ deal.