OPEC nations, led by Saudi Arabia, and its allies, including producers like Russia, are voluntarily reducing the amount of crude oil they provide.

The OPEC+ secretariat said on Sunday that some member nations had extended their cutbacks of about 2.2 million barrels per day. Leading the group, Saudi Arabia decided to prolong its daily cap of one million barrels to the end of the second quarter of 2024.

With the extension, the kingdom's crude output would remain at about 9 million barrels per day through the end of June, according to information initially released by the state-owned Saudi Press Agency, which cited an Energy Ministry source.

Additionally on Sunday, Russia declared a voluntary reduction in production and exports of 471,000 barrels per day for the second quarter.  Less significantly, the OPEC secretariat reports that Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman will also be maintaining their decreases.

The OPEC+ nations taking part in the production cutbacks, which have been building since October 2022, have said that their objective is to balance the oil market, with the understanding that volumes will be progressively restored contingent on market circumstances.

At the end of last week, the price of Brent crude, the global standard, was around $83.55 per barrel, up from $77.33 a month earlier. Even with the recent rise, Brent's current price is still reasonable and in line with analysts' earlier projections. It is particularly far lower than the skyrocketing oil prices that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The voluntary reductions that were announced in April 2023 and go through December of this year, including 500,000 barrels per day from both Saudi Arabia and Russia, are in addition to the most recent extension of cutbacks announced on Sunday.