The OPEC+ has decided to maintain its progressive crude oil production adjustment, considering that the current price volatility was due to geopolitical developments rather than to fundamentals. Consequently, it will continue increasing its monthly overall production by 0.4 mb/d for the months of April and May 2022, until phasing out the 5.8 mb/d production adjustment. In May 2022, both Saudi Arabia and Russia should produce over 10.5 mb/d; the OPEC 10 production should reach 25.6 mb/d, that of non-OPEC producers 16.5 mb/d, and the OPEC+ production should average 42.1 mb/d. The OPEC+ is unwinding production cut of 5.8 mb/d, raising its output target each month by 400,000 bbl/d since August 2021.
Meanwhile, the US administration has decided to raise the domestic crude oil production by 1 mb/d in 2022 and nearly 0.7 mb/d in 2023. To incite oil companies to take part in the production increase - and not only benefit from higher prices - a fee will be implemented on oil wells that are leased but that have not been used in years. In addition, the United States will release an additional 1 mb/d of oil reserve every day for the next six months; the 180 mbl release is equivalent to around 2 days of global demand. Revenues from the release will be used to restock the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in future years.