Saudi Arabia Mulls 1Mln BPD Oil Output Cut Amid Coronavirus Outbreak - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2020) Saudi Arabia is considering slashing oil output by 1 million barrels a day in response to a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The short-term production cut is being weighed against reducing the output of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) by 500,000 barrels a day, unnamed OPEC sources told the daily.

OPEC and its allies have pushed the meeting of their joint technical committee forward to this Tuesday and Wednesday to assess the impact of the virus outbreak in China on oil exports, a source with knowledge of the situation has told Sputnik.

Crude prices fell 15 percent in January after China confirmed that a new strain of coronavirus was behind the outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan. The illness has sickened over 17,000 people in China and spread to over 20 other countries. As a result, more than 360 people have died.