Seeking to punish cheaters, Saudi Arabia pushes OPEC+ to open oil taps

5/4/2025 6:09

Saudi Arabia's anger at Kazakhstan and other over producing nations was the key driver behind a shock decision by the OPEC+ oil group to open taps on Thursday and might not be reversed even if oil prices fall further, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters.



Saudi Arabia has been an aggressive supporter of production control to balance the market in the last five years as its budget requires oil prices of around $90 per barrel. Thursday's decision represents a major departure from those policies.



For the past several months, Saudi Arabia has been pushing Kazakhstan and Iraq to improve compliance with production cuts, threatening to otherwise start ramping up its oil output.



Instead, Kazakhstan showed record pumping figures month after month as U.S. firms Chevron and Exxon Mobil expanded production at the key field in the country. Iraq was slow to curtail its volumes too.



The warning shot to the cheaters was fired a month ago, when OPEC+ decided to start modest monthly production increases tothe tune of 130,000 barrels per day from April against market expectations it would keep output steady.