Saudi Arabia said on Sunday OPEC’s job in rebalancing the oil market was far from done as global inventories were still rising despite harsh US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, signalling it may need to expand output cuts into the second half of 2019.
Russia, which is cutting oil output in tandem with OPEC, also said production cuts would stay in place at least until June when Washington’s next steps on reducing Iran’s and Venezuela’s oil exports become clearer.
The United States has been increasing its own oil exports steeply in recent months while imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran to reduce their shipments to global markets.
