Crude Oil: OPEC production declined by 797,000 bpd in January from a month earlier, averaging just 30.81 mb/d. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait chipped in most of the reductions. Still, Russia only lowered output by 90,000 bpd, far short of the 230,000 bpd promised as part of the December deal. Saudi Arabia said it would continue to cut output, with plans to lower production to as low as 9.8 mb/d in March, or roughly half a million barrels per day lower than it had promised. Oil prices jumped on the news.
India’s two leading refiners will continue to buy crude oil from Venezuela but will stop selling it refined products because of U.S. sanctions, according to Argus Media. Notably, PDVSA’s head Manuel Quevedo showed up at a conference in New Delhi. India could remain one of the few large buyers of oil from the increasingly isolated regime of Nicolas Maduro. Quevedo said PDVSA planned on doubling exports to India to 300,000 bpd. John Bolton issued a veiled threat to India to not work with Maduro’s regime, saying on twitter that “Nations and firms that support Maduro’s theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten.”
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