Page 126 - RusRPTApr24

the second quarter of 2024 on March 4.
Thus, Saudi Arabia extends production cuts by one million barrels a day until June, the United Arab Emirates - by 163,000 barrels a day, Kuwait - by 135,000 barrels a day, Kazakhstan - by 82,000 barrels a day, Algeria - by 51,000 barrels a day, Oman - by 45,000 barrels a day. Russia said it will cut oil production in the second quarter of 2024 by an average of 471,000 barrels a day (in the first quarter, Russia’s daily production cuts stood at 500,000 barrels). Iraq also said it will continue voluntary oil production cuts in the second quarter of the year (its production cuts in the first quarter amounted to 223,000 barrels a day).
Thus, all the participants in the OPEC+ voluntary oil production cuts deal in the first quarter of the year have extended their commitments under the deal until June. Overall production cuts in the OPEC+ countries stand at 2.17 million barrels a day.
On November 30, 2023, several OPEC+ countries made a decision to voluntarily cut oil production by an additional 2.2 mln barrels daily in the first quarter of 2024.
Ukraine has deprived the Russian Federation of 10-15% of its oil refining capacity. As a result of strikes by Ukrainian drones, Russian refineries have lost a 600,000 to 900,000 barrel production volume, which is 10% to 15% of their daily output.
The production of motor gasoline in Russia in February 2024 increased by 4.4% to 3.7mn tonnes, diesel - by 1.7% to 6.974mn tonnes, according to the Russian Statistics Service (Rosstat). In January - February 2024, gasoline production increased by 2.1% to 7.5mn tonnes, diesel production decreased by 0.4% to 14.6mn tonnes. Fuel oil production in January - February decreased by 6.1% to 6.8mn tonnes. At the same time, the volume of gasoline production in Russia from March 18 to March 24, 2024, fell by 7.4% compared to the previous week and amounted to 754,600 tonnes. Diesel output last week increased by 0.6% to 1.648mn tonnes. A decline in production was also recorded in the week from March 11 to March 17, 2024, by 2.8% for gasoline and by 2.5% for diesel (when compared with the previous week).
● Prices & demand
Oil prices have been on an upward trend year-to-date. In January 2024, Saudi Arabia's trade balance narrowed to SAR28.2bn from SAR38.1bn, driven by a 13.5% decline in oil exports due to lower oil production resulting from OPEC+ cuts. We anticipate the trade balance will continue to decline in 2024, driven by increased imports and slower growth in oil exports, with downward risks from OPEC+ extending the cut to Q3. Oil prices have been on an upward trend year-to-date, with last week's prices surpassing $86 per barrel – the highest level since November 2023. This has been mainly driven by recent
126 RUSSIA Country Report April 2024 www.intellinews.com