OPEC and allies to consider significant oil output cuts as coronavirus hits demand - Reuters

OPEC and allies to consider significant oil output cuts as coronavirus hits demand - Reuters:

OPEC and its allies will consider making substantial oil production cuts to lift prices that have been battered by the coronavirus outbreak, Algeria’s oil minister said on Tuesday, as ministers began arriving for talks in Vienna this week.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, have an existing deal in place to cut output from Jan. 1 by 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd), a figure that includes additional voluntary cuts by Saudi Arabia.

But this has not been enough to counter the impact of the virus outbreak on China, the world’s biggest oil importer, and around the world, as factories are disrupted, fewer people travel and other business slows, curbing demand for oil.

The OPEC meeting, however, has been somewhat overshadowed by the coronavirus, with officials having considered whether to talks should be held in person or by video. OPEC said the number of delegates attending the meeting would be limited and journalists, who usually chase ministers, would not be allowed into OPEC headquarters.