Saudi Arabia plans to produce around 9.8 million barrels per day of oil in March, over half a million bpd below its pledged production level under a global supply-cutting deal, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told the Financial Times.
Exports would fall in March to 6.9 million bpd, according to the article published on Tuesday.
Under the deal reached in December and which came into effect at the start of the year, Saudi Arabia’s target production is 10.311 million bpd.
The news boosted Brent crude prices by more than 2 percent to nearly $63 a barrel.
In the interview, Falih addressed a US bill that might expose OPEC to antitrust lawsuits, saying the legislation could be “harmful” to the global economy, and expressed his hope that the United States would “do the right thing”.
He said if Saudi Arabia were unable to balance the market by adjusting production, the world would suffer “irreparably”.
