Oman on 1 May begins its largest ever voluntary crude production cut as it teams up with Opec+ in trying to mitigate the severe market imbalance brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic (MEES, 1 May). Total oil production will fall from around 1.1mn b/d in April to just 824,000 b/d in May and June before easing up by 43,000 b/d to 867,000 b/d for the second half of 2020. Condensate output will be unaffected and remain above 140,000 b/d.

The pledge will see Oman reduce output to its lowest level since October 2009. The cut is especially galling given that production averaged a record 1.08mn b/d in March following the collapse of the 6 March Opec+ meeting (MEES, 6 March). (CONTINUED - 921 WORDS)