The final statement at the G20 meeting was not about specific production cuts, but said Thursday`s OPEC+ deal was the supply-cutting plan. “To address these challenges, we commit to take all necessary and immediate measures to ensure the stability of the energy market,” the G20 ministers said in a joint statement issued early Saturday. “We recognize the commitment of some producers to stabilize energy markets.” The G20 will form a focus group to continue monitoring its response to energy market challenges, they added. He said OPEC+ should continue to monitor global oil inventories, adding that the increase in the group`s crude oil production from August “should not affect the market due to increased demand in domestic markets.” After an on-demand coronavirus pandemic and a devastating price delay, the 23-Nation Alliance of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies is moving cautiously to rebalance a global oil market in the early stages of recovery. Led by Saudi Arabia and Russia – and pushed to a distance by the Trump administration – the group agreed in April to cut production by 9.7 million barrels a day. OPEC+ agreed to cut production by a record 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June, or about 10 percent of global production, in order to raise prices shaken by falling demand related to lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration had made a formal commitment to cut production in the United States, but in the face of falling prices, many companies in the country have already cut production. There is no international mechanism to strictly impose such production agreements and fraud is commonplace. But even the unprecedented deal reached on Friday shows that there is no easy way to stop the haemorrhage of the unprecedented collapse in global oil demand due to the pandemic. Experts estimate that demand has declined by about 30 percent, although countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia have increased production until recently. This has led to a mammoth imbalance in which supply exceeds demand by 24 million barrels per day. This impasse threatened the entire agreement.
López Obrador said Friday morning that the U.S. had agreed to make further cuts in oil production on behalf of Mexico, when it was not at all clear how this would work, since the U.S. . . .