The oil market has collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the inability of the OPEC+ alliance to agree on a production cut strategy at its last meeting March 5-6, when Russia rejected a Saudi-led proposal for deeper cuts.

"At the same time, the industry has announced and initiated a number of measures, and we can already see that this is affecting activity on the Norwegian shelf. Substantial cost cuts have been announced, reducing both exploration activity, investments and operating costs moving forward," says Director General Ingrid Sølvberg.

Brent was up by 21 cents, or 0.8%, at $32.08 per barrel, WTI rose 82 cents, or 3.8%, to $24.45 a barrel

"We are encouraged by the President’s strong diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and Russia, and we are optimistic further progress will be made in the days ahead. No one wins in a price war, and the Saudis and the Russians aren’t benefiting from their decisions. We also urged the administration to avoid U.S. policies that could do more harm than good for American producers.

OPEC has been open to counting natural production declines in its output cut agreements, but there is no indication the US would be willing to sign up to that, and some delegates say Russia might not agree such a dressed-up US cut anyway.

Brent crude oil prices averaged $32/barrel (b) in March, a decrease of $24/b from the average in February and the lowest monthly average since January 2016.

The government of Kuwait plans to increase its oil production in April 2020, with an objective of 3.15 mb/d, up from an average production 2.69 mb/d in 2019 (2.74 mb/d in 2018).

ExxonMobil capital investments for 2020 are now expected to be about $23 billion, down from the previously announced $33 billion.

Brent was up by 80 cents, or 2.4%, at $33.85 a barrel, WTI was up by 83 cents, or 3.2%, at $26.91 a barrel

Brent was down $1.23, or 3.6%, at $32.88 a barrel, WTI was $1.01, or 3.6%, lower at $27.33 a barrel

«Россия считает необходимым объединить эти усилия. Мы готовы к договоренностям с партнерами и в рамках механизма ОПЕК+, и к взаимодействию с США по этому вопросу. В результате необходимо сократить добычу, предварительно, на 10 млн баррелей в сутки. Это должно происходить по-партнерски. Все понимают, что речь может идти о сокращении от уровня добычи 1 квартала текущего года», - подчеркнул Президент.​

«На нефтяном рынке спрос также падает, на 10-15%. Мы надеемся, что в течение нескольких месяцев с постепенным увеличением экономической активности спрос все же будет нарастать», - сказал Александр Новак.

Мы при необходимости не исключаем и такой вариант развития событий. Если такое желание будет у стран, входящих в ОПЕК+ и стран, которые не входят, которые тоже сегодня проявляют активность, потому что попали в трудную ситуацию, — я этот вариант не исключаю.

Saudi Arabia raised its crude output to 12.3 million bpd on April 1 and said it planned to export to more than 10 million bpd starting from April.

"Russia was not a supporter of ending the OPEC+ deal. President Putin and the Russian side are overall inclined towards a constructive negotiation process, there is no alternative for stabilizing the international energy market,"