Oil: Production cuts don’t alter market fundamentals

The fact the marker Brent crude held in a range of $54-56/barrel (bbl) for most of January was an undoubted success for members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), who along with 11 non-Opec producers, led by Russia, agreed in December to restrict output by 1.8m b/d, starting from 1 January. The first meeting of the committee set up to monitor adherence to the deal was held in Vienna on 22 January. Russian energy minister Alexander Novak says close to 1.5m b/d has already been taken out of the market.