"OPEC+, 5월부터 두달간 하루 1천만 배럴 원유 감산"<br /><br />The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered oil prices recently as demand has crashed amid lockdowns and travel restrictions.<br />And to try to counter the plummeting prices, OPEC, Russia and several other major oil producers have agreed to drastically slash production from next month.<br />Our Jang Tae-hyun reports.<br />The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and several other major oil producers including Russia agreed to a historic production cut of 10 million barrels a day for two months from May.<br />With the decision,... the group will cut daily production by 10 million barrels in May and June, 8 million barrels from July through to the end of the year,... and 6 million barrels from January 2021 to April 2022.<br />The drastic move comes as the coronavirus pandemic saps demand for crude oil,... with almost the entire world not flying or driving.<br />The decision by the group, known as OPEC-plus, amounts to a roughly 10-percent drop in global oil production.<br />All members will reduce their output by 23 percent, with Saudi Arabia and Russia each cutting production by 2-point-five million barrels per day and Iraq cutting production by over 1 million barrels.<br />Countries that aren't members of OPEC-plus, such as the U.S, Norway and Canada, were also invited, but it is not clear whether they participated in the video conference.<br />Despite the record cut,... oil prices moved lower on Thursday as investors worried the cut would still not be enough to match the drop in demand.<br />West Texas Intermediate dropped around 9-point-3-percent on Thursday to settle at 22 U.S. dollars, 76 cents per barrel.<br />And Brent Crude fell 4-point-1-percent to settle at 31 dollars 48 cents per barrel.<br />OPEC-plus members will have an online meeting on June 10 to evaluate the effect of the production cut.<br />Jang Tae-hyun, Arirang News<br />
