The OPEC+ alliance confirmed today, after holding a JMMC internal committee teleconference, that from May it will withdraw 1.16 million barrels per day from the market on the basis of "voluntary" cuts by several of its partners.

This reduction, which after being announced on Sunday has already led to a sharp rise in the price of "black gold", comes on top of another cut of 0.5 million barrels a day by Russia and the sharp cut of two million barrels adopted last October by the group of 23 countries.

The JMMC (Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee) of the 23-nation group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, a consultative body with no decision-making powers, met today to discuss the oil supply cuts announced by several OPEC+ countries, as well as the increases in oil prices that this unexpected decision has already caused.

Saudi Arabia and other countries in the OPEC+ alliance (OPEC and allies) announced on Sunday that they will jointly withdraw more than one million barrels a day from the market from next month, a cut on top of the two million barrels a day cut already in place since November 2022.

Following these announcements, Russia, which had already said in March that it would reduce its production by 0.5 million barrels a day, said it would extend this measure until the end of 2023, and Kazakhstan reported a voluntary cut of 78,000 barrels a day.