Mubasher: Kuwait’s crude oil production climbed by 259,000 barrels per day (b/d) during April 2020 to reach 3.13 million b/d from 2.87 million b/d in March, according to a report by OPEC.

Since the beginning of the year, demand for crude oil has been falling due to the national lockdowns, social distancing measures, and travel restrictions taken against the highly contagious coronavirus (COVID-19).

Earlier, the GCC state announced its commitment to a recent agreement on production cut by OPEC+ before it comes into effect, noting that alongside the UAE, the two states will reduce their crude oil output by 180,000 b/d collectively, 80,00 b/d by Kuwait and 100,000 b/d by the UAE. 

In the same vein, three other states increased their output in the past month. Saudi Arabia topped the list with 1.5 million b/d, followed by the UAE with 332 million b/d and Equatorial Guinea with 5,000 b/d.

In contrast, nine other nations cut their production, spearheaded by Angola with 90,000 b/d, followed by Nigeria with 68,000 b/d, Iran with 53,000 b/d, Iraq with 50,000 b/d, and Venezuela with 38,000 b/d.

In the meantime, Algeria slashed its output by 23,000 b/d, followed by Congo with 12,000 b/d, and Gabon and Libya with 9,000 b/d each.

Earlier this week, the Saudi Ministry of Energy directed Saudi Aramco to reduce its production in June by an extra voluntary amount of one million b/d, to be added to the reduction agreed as per the recent OPEC+ agreement, raising the production cut to about 4.8 million b/d.

Translated by: Amal A. Wahaab