The US does not consider the decision of some OPEC+ members to reduce oil production reasonable. John Kirby, the White House Strategic Communications coordinator, told reporters on April 3.
“We don’t think production cuts are reasonable at the moment, given the market uncertainty,” he said.
At the same time, he did not answer the question about Washington conducting any negotiations with OPEC+ members on oil production volumes.
Earlier in the day, OPEC+ monitoring confirmed its commitment to the agreements reached last October at a meeting in Vienna on reducing oil production. The communique published by the organization also notes that some OPEC+ countries will voluntarily reduce oil production by 1.66 million b/d.
On the eve of some OPEC+ countries (Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Russia) decided to reduce oil production. So, Saudi Arabia voluntarily reduced oil production by 500 thousand barrels per day from May to the end of this year.
On April 3, The Wall Street Journal, citing a statement by the US National Security Council, wrote that the American side considers OPEC+’s decision to reduce oil production ineffective against the background of the instability of the energy market.
In turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is guided by the decisions that are made by oil-producing countries. He noted that it is necessary to focus on the position of OPEC and OPEC+ in the interests of global energy, and the dissatisfaction of other countries is their own business.
On October 5, 2022, OPEC+ members have already reduced oil production by 2 million barrels per day since November, extending the deal until the end of 2023. Despite the energy crisis and rising energy prices in other regions, this step was supported by all members of the alliance, including Russia.