Saudi Arabia pumped 9.782mn barrels per day (bpd) of oil in June, Reuters reported, citing an anonymous OPEC source. It pumped 9.67mbpd in May.
Under the terms of the recently extended OPEC+ deal to curb production, Saudi Arabia has an output target of 10.3mbpd, but it is keeping well below that amount to drive down inventories and push prices.
OPEC, as a whole, saw a 170,000bpd drop in production to 29.6mbpd in June, a five-year low. However, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are reportedly moving closer to an agreement on the Neutral Zone, which has the potential to produce up to 500,000bpd. This could fill the supply gap in sour-heavy crude left by dwindling supply from Iran and Venezuela.
