As prices dip, OPEC backs biggest oil cut since 2008 financial crisis

OPEC agreed on Thursday to cut oil output by an extra 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter of 2020 to support prices that have been hit by the coronavirus outbreak, but made its action conditional on Russia and others joining in.

Russia and Kazakhstan, both members of the broader and informal group known as OPEC+, said they had not yet agreed to a deeper cut, raising the risk of a collapse in cooperation that has propped up crude prices since 2016.

Oil demand growth forecasts for 2020 have been slashed because of global measures to halt the spread of the virus, prompting the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to consider its biggest cut since the 2008 financial crisis.