What does OPEC’s decision to cut oil production in April mean?

Vitaliy Danilov, Director of the Center for Applied Analysis of International Transformations at the Russian People’s Friendship University (RUDN), told Sputnik that despite the decline in oil production, it is still too early to draw sensational conclusions from it. “The decrease has occurred in some countries that are currently unable to produce oil at the quota assigned to them for various reasons. These countries are Iraq, Nigeria and Angola. However, Saudi Arabia, the leading actor of OPEC, increased its oil production.said.

Danilov said that the main task of OPEC is to keep the prices of world energy resources at a high, but not speculative, level. “Given that the United States has gradually given up on Middle Eastern oil and increased its import volume from South American countries and Canada, Saudi Arabia has made a strategic decision to work more closely with China and Russia.”used his statements.

Elmira Imamkuliyeva, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics at the Russian National Research University School of Economics, stated that the voluntary reduction of oil production by OPEC and OPEC+ countries was perceived extremely negatively by the USA, which insisted on increasing quotas: “Increasing quotas would help alleviate some of the oil shortage caused by the imposition of a price cap on Russian oil and the reduction of Russian oil exports. But Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries took a different decision. This, in turn, leads to an increase in oil prices and an increase in the incomes of these countries in the medium term. This is, above all, a very pragmatic and economically profitable step for major oil exporters.”