According to a report by Bloomberg News on July 3, 2023, Saudi Arabia will extend its unilateral crude oil production reduction agreement for one month, restricting supply as the market is expected to tighten. As a result, crude oil prices rose 2%.
    According to a statement issued by Saudi Arabia's official news agency, the 1 million barrels per day reduction in crude oil production that began in July-a supplement to the existing OPEC + production reduction agreement-will last into August and may be extended further. The additional production cuts will reduce Saudi Arabia's crude oil production to about 9 million barrels per day, the lowest level in several years, which will sacrifice sales, but the return so far from rising oil prices is negligible. Weak demand has limited crude oil prices to around US$75 a barrel, below the level Saudi Arabia needs to pay its budget. Against this backdrop, the extension of production cuts is not surprising, and almost all traders and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted this outcome.
 Industry insiders had generally expected oil prices to rise this year, but prices fell instead due to concerns about the economic strength of rising interest rates. Supply is expected to remain tight in the second half of the year, but Wall Street forecasters including Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley have abandoned expectations that crude oil prices will return to $100 a barrel. Source: Sinopec News Network