Global deal to cut oil output in sight after Mexico signs up

PTI, Apr 10, 2020, 8:21 PM IST

Dubai: The OPEC oil cartel and nations, including Russia, have agreed to boost oil prices by cutting as much as 10 million barrels a day in production.

Even more countries, including the US, were discussing Friday their own cuts in what would be an unprecedented global pact to stabilise the market.

The agreement between OPEC and partner countries aims to cut 10 million barrels per day until July, then an 8 million barrels per day cut through the end of the year, and 6 million a day for 16 months beginning in 2021.

Mexico had initially blocked the deal but its president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said Friday that he had agreed with US President Donald Trump that the US will compensate what Mexico cannot add to the proposed cuts.

That paves the way for cuts that experts estimate could reach 15 million barrels a day in all – about 15% of world production. Such a move would be unprecedented both in its size and the number of participating countries, many of whom have long been bitter rivals in the energy industry.

The price of crude is down by over 50% since the start of the year and while that helps consumers and energy-hungry businesses, it is below the cost of production for many countries and companies.

That has strained the budgets of oil-producing nations, many of which are developing economies, and it has pushed private companies in the US toward bankruptcy.

Analysts warn even these proposed cuts may not be enough to offset the loss in demand over the longer term, as the coronavirus pandemic has decimated demand for energy around the world.

“COVID-19 is an unseen beast that seems to be impacting everything in its path,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said at the start of the meeting, according to a statement.

“There is a grizzly shadow hanging over all of us. We do not want this shadow to envelop us. It will have a crushing and long-term impact on the entire industry.”

One breakthrough came after Mexican President Obrador said Friday that he agreed with US President Trump that the US will compensate what Mexico cannot add to the proposed cut during OPEC conversations.

Mexico had balked at cutting its output by the requested 400,000 barrels a day.

Obrador said Mexico will instead cut its oil production by 100,000 barrels per day from its current level of 1.7 million barrels a day. The US will add a cut of 250,000 barrels per day to what it has already agreed.

More nations were expected to add to the effort, with Saudi Arabia chairing a Group of 20 virtual meeting of energy ministers on Friday to discuss the oversupply in the market.

The meeting is expected to bring onboard a wider number of countries, including the US. Saudi media quoted Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying in his opening remarks that the pandemic means it is more vital than ever that reliable and affordable energy supplies are available.

The oil market was already oversupplied when Russia and OPEC failed to agree on output cuts in early March. Analysts say Russia refused to back even a moderate cut because it would have only served to help US energy companies that were pumping at full capacity. Stalling would hurt American shale-oil producers and protect market share.

Russia’s move enraged Saudi, which not only said it would not cut production on its own but said it would increase output instead and reduce its selling prices in what became effectively a global pricing war.

In the time since, prices have collapsed as the coronavirus and the COVID-19 illness it causes have largely halted global travel. International benchmark Brent crude traded Friday over $31 a barrel while the US benchmark West Texas crude traded under $23.

In Russia relies on oil as the main source of income and the price collapse caused the ruble to crash. That boosted the cost of imports and sped up inflation.

In his opening remarks at the start of Thursday’s call, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak emphasized the need for “all oil-producing countries to pool efforts to change the situation of a significant global oversupply”. He said global demand had fallen by 10-15 millions barrels a day.

“We believe it necessary to increase the number of countries that could join efforts to help stabilize the situation,” he said, welcoming Norway, Canada, Indonesia and others that hadn’t been part of the so-called OPEC+ talks.

Analysts, however, warn the proposed 10 million barrel per day cut for May and June will not be enough to offset plummeting demand for oil globally, and runs the risk of coming too late as storage capacity for oil nears its maximum.

Even if North American producers took 5 million barrels a day off the market, there could still be an excess supply of 5-10 million barrels per day.

Research firm Rystad Energy estimates the imbalance for April is 27.4 million barrels per day. The firm says global storage of crude is already close to being filled to the brim, estimating that on average 79% of the world’s oil storage capacity is already full.

Around 7.4 billion barrels of crude and products are in storage, including 1.3 billion currently on board tankers at sea.

Chris Midgley, global head of analytics for S&P Global Platts, said the proposed cuts are unlikely to have any significant impact on April supply, and thus run the risk of getting close to exhausting all available storage in May.

However, a cut of 10-15 million barrels per day is enough to prop up oil prices and helps to reduce strain on crude storage facilities, analysts said.