Saudi oil minister says OPEC+ remains cautious on production -Bloomberg

(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said OPEC+ will remain cautious on oil production, noting that members saw “uncertainties” in the global economy ahead of the bloc’s next meeting in December, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

“Our theme is being cautious,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Bloomberg TV in an interview on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, adding “it’s about being responsible and not losing sight of what the market requires.”

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia decided to lower targeted production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, despite opposition to cuts from the United States and others.

The group is expected to hold its next meeting in Vienna on Dec. 4, one day before an agreement by the Group of Seven countries to cap Russian oil sales at an enforced low price is due to go into effect.

“China is closing more cities and the jury is still out” on whether it will end its policy of strict COVID-19 lockdowns, Bloomberg cited bin Salman as saying.

“It’s about recession. I also see what central banks are saying and doing,” he said, in an apparent reference to moves by major central banks to raise interest rates in an effort to curb inflation.

Oil prices jumped by about 3% on Friday after health authorities in China, the top global crude importer, eased some of the country’s heavy COVID curbs. [O/R]

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