Brussels 07.10.2022 The OPEC+ alliance, which unites major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, decided to reduce output quotas by two million barrels per day amid a looming recession, and extend coordination efforts on the oil market until the end of 2023.

Market players already included a quota reduction in Brent crude prices at the beginning of the week, so there may be a moderate reaction to OPEC+’s move, investment market analysts indicated.

Russia’s oil production remains under the country’s OPEC+ quota, BCS World of Investment Senior Analyst Ronald Smith pointed out. According to him, in fact, only Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates will have to reduce their output, but it will support oil prices all the same.

“The decision is particularly important for Russia because the European Commission approved its eighth package of restrictions against Moscow on October 5, which includes a price cap on Russian oil. The move will probably make Russia offer higher discounts to oil importers but the higher the prices, the more money Russia’s budget will get,” Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov told Izvestia.

On Thursday October 6 the EU Council decided to impose restrictive measures on an additional 30 individuals and 7 entities in view of Russia’s
escalating military aggression against Ukraine and other actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

In addition, the Council decided to broaden the listing criteria on which specific designations can be based, in order to include the possibility to target those who facilitate the circumvention of EU sanctions. The Council considers that facilitating infringements of the prohibition against circumvention of certain EU restrictive measures is likely to contribute to destabilising Ukraine or undermining its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.