Voluntary Oil Production Cut: Decision to Balance Demand, Production Levels

This handout photo released by the Iraqi prime minister's office on April 1, 2023, shows workers going about their tasks at the Karbala oil refinery in the eponymous governorate, on the date it launched operations. (Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office / AFP)

Oil and economic experts confirmed that the voluntary oil production cuts taken by oil-exporting countries within OPEC+, starting May and continuing until the end of 2023, aim to achieve market balance.

Mubarak Alhajeri, a faculty member at Kuwait's College of Technological Studies, explained that the cut had shocked global markets in an apparent attempt to break the psychological and price barrier of Brent crude at $80 a barrel by reinforcing the balance between production and demand.