BEIJING, September 6. /TASS/. OPEC+ countries will not support the interference of the US and the EU in the situation on the global oil market against their own interest, the Global Times newspaper wrote on Tuesday.
According to the Chinese publication, "the OPEC+ production cut, which came just days after the Group of Seven agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports, is an unmistakable sign of the oil-producing countries' opposition to the West's geopolitical gambits at the expense of these countries as well as global markets."
The newspaper notes that "if a price cap on Russian crude was implemented under certain circumstances, there would be two kinds of oil prices in the international market, the normal crude price based on a market mechanism, and the capped prices of Russian crude. The obvious price difference would certainly result in arbitrage activities, and buyers would abandon high-priced oil for a low-priced option, eventually putting pressure on normal crude prices. This is clearly not in the interests of oil-producing countries."
Following a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven on September 2 in Berlin, the G7 club agreed to introduce a proposed price cap on Russian oil to limit the country’s revenues from its export. For doing this the G7 member states seek to establish a broad coalition and urge all countries that still seek to import Russian oil and petroleum products to commit to doing so only at prices at or below the price cap. Moscow warned it will suspend supplies of oil and petroleum products to states that decide to join this initiative.
At the OPEC+ meeting on September 5, the alliance members approved a reduction in oil production in October by 100,000 barrels per day. According to the final communique, the OPEC+ countries will revert to the production level of August 2022. The document stresses that that the upward adjustment of 0.1 mb/d to the production level was only intended for September 2022.
The ministers of the OPEC + countries also agreed to hold alliance meetings at any time in order to respond to the market situation. The next OPEC+ meeting is scheduled for October 5th.