Saudis to hold oil output steady

World’s largest oil-producing country says it will not make further cuts to supply through April, signaling tentative end to OPEC output cuts.

TOKYO (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia surprised its Asian oil customers on Tuesday by telling them it would maintain or slightly increase crude supplies next month, another sign that OPEC’s most influential member will urge the cartel to refrain from further output cuts when it meets this weekend.

On Monday the Saudi-owned al-Hayat cited a senior source as saying the world’s top oil exporter would urge OPEC to comply with existing curbs before considering more output cuts at its March 15 meeting. After OPEC’s biggest ever production curbs, oil prices have rebounded from below $35 to trade at $47 a barrel.


The signs of steady to higher supply contrasted with news from Europe on Monday, where a source with one European oil firm said it would get less Saudi crude, and with news two weeks ago from fellow core OPEC member the United Arab Emirates, which told refiners it would deepen cuts in April.

For Asian refiners, who buy half the kingdom’s exported crude and are normally a good barometer for its supply policy, the monthly allocations were unexpected given many OPEC members have been advocating further action.

“We didn’t think the cuts would narrow, we had anticipated steady to larger cuts,” said one of the sources, who said his firm got slightly more heavy crude than a month ago.

Reuters