DUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC and Russia will debate record oil output cuts on Thursday to prop up prices wrought by the coronavirus pandemic but their talks are complicated by internal disagreements and the reluctance of the United States to join the action.
FILE PHOTO: The sun sets behind a crude oil pump jack on a drill pad in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S. November 24, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File Photo
Global fuel demand has plunged as much as 30% as measures to fight the virus have grounded aircraft, reduced vehicle usage and curbed economic activity.
Benchmark Brent crude oil prices LCOc1 hit an 18-year low last month and are trading below $34 a barrel, half their level at the end of 2019, dealing a severe blow to budgets of oil producing nations and high-cost U.S. shale oil industry. [O/R]
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week a deal he had brokered with OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and Russia could lead to cuts of as much as 10 million to 15 million barrels per day (bpd) or 10% to 15% of global supplies, an unprecedented reduction.
Riyadh and Moscow, who fell out when a previous pact on curbing supplies collapsed in March, have signalled that their agreement to new, much deep