The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus, or OPEC Plus, is considering cutting its oil output by more than 1 million barrels a day, Reuters reported Monday. The move threatens to anger the US, which is angling to keep oil production high and prices low, with a view to hit Russian oil revenues.
The alliance of 23 oil-producing nations, which includes Russia, is likely to announce its decision at an October 5 meeting in Vienna, Austria.
Cuts to oil production were estimated to range between .5 million and 1 million barrels per day before the weekend, but latest estimates point to a cut of over 1 million barrels per day, Nader Itayim, a Middle East crude oil expert at Argus Media, told Insider.
This means oil prices could touch “$100 per barrel,” Viktor Katona, an energy analyst at Kpler, told Insider. That’s up from the current levels of around $87 per barrel. Oil prices were around $125 per barrel at the start of the Russia- Ukraine war, which helped prop up Russia’s oil revenues.