![OPEC+ is now reducing production by 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd), down from cuts totalling 9.7 million bpd enforced from May 1 to August 1 [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/opec-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Another wave of the coronavirus could clobber crude demand and depress prices once again.
OPEC
![Oman, its rial currency pictured here, had already been downgraded twice this year by both Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings [File: Charles Crowell/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/oman.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
S&P Global Ratings took Oman down to a B+ as lower crude revenue and the coronavirus pandemic hit country’s finances.
![Oil use will jump to 97.7 million bpd next year, reach 99.8 million bpd in 2022 - above the 2019 level - and grow to 102.6 million bpd by 2024, it predicts [File: Angus Mordant/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/oilopec.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
OPEC sees oil demand peaking by the late 2030s, in contrast to oil industry view that plateau will...
![The amount of extra oil Libya can export will depend in part on how quickly it can fix wellheads, pipelines and storage tanks that have been neglected or damaged during the conflict [File: Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cf489bed81a84406aa67324607f008eb_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
State energy firm said on Saturday it would start operations at ports and fields, but force majeure...
!['I'm going to make sure whoever gambles on this market will be ouching like hell,' Saudi Arabia's minister of energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, said on Thursday [File: Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/b6406421e4194cc6b7f311810129e7bd_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister invokes Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry in warning issued after OPEC+ meeting.
![Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman needs Aramco's money to fulfill his ambitious blueprint to diversify the kingdom's economy away from fossil fuels [File: Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/fd53ae504c7b4eaeb6727f32ca1cf33c_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Aramco has suspended key projects and racked up debt, triggering concerns among investors.
![Global benchmark Brent crude fell for a fifth day on Tuesday and has lost more than 10 percent since the end of August [File: Nick Oxford/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/d7605e7c99e04a88b65eb6bea595baeb_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Oil futures settled sharply lower after Saudi Arabia cut October prices and COVID-19 cases rebounded in several nations.
![Facing a deep recession this year, Riyadh has introduced austerity measures such as removing a cost-of-living allowance for state employees and tripling value-added tax to 15 percent to bolster state revenues [File: Tasneem Alsultan/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/48d3fd788bd9498e8867c84d0e1900ae_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Second quarter oil revenues fell by 45 percent year-on-year to $25.5bn after the pandemic decimated crude demand.
![The coronavirus pandemic, the rise of electric vehicles and a shift to renewable energy sources have combined to slash demand for crude oil [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/a2fbbf4ec33f44298af828f95e633e21_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Oil producers’ cartel is reportedly preparing for a permanent reduction in oil demand following coronavirus pandemic.
![Acting as an artery in the global oil trade, the Sumed transports Middle Eastern oil to the North African coast, allowing giant supertankers - that would otherwise sit too deep in the water - to continue to use the Suez Canal [File: Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/3e4fdbc6f06d477e91dc043579e4490d_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Slump in flows reflects dramatically lower European fuel consumption as pandemic decimates demand.
![The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, will withhold 7.7 million barrels of oil a day from the market in August, compared with cuts of 9.6 million currently [File: Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/45d570766d2c4402a4daec25a80731c4_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
After three months of output curbs to offset demand blow from COVID-19 pandemic and price war, OPEC+ set to taper cuts.
![Libya has been at the centre of a proxy war between various regional powers, and remains divided between a United Nations-recognised government in the capital Tripoli, where the NOC has its headquarters, and a competing administration based in the east [File: Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2d22edfced024a0da24d8d95cd3cdf5e_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
UAE official did not respond to accusations but tweeted on Monday the emirates wants to see Libya oil production resume.
![Troops loyal to Libya's internationally-recognised government on their way to Sirte, in Tripoli, Libya, where oil facilities have been at the heart of the political conflict with different groups repeatedly closing them as part of political demands [File: Ayman Sahely/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/0f28f55228db426eaf7eb65d2f8f9170_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The months-long ban deprived OPEC member and once major oil producer of about one million barrels a day of shipments.
![Coronavirus has heaped even more pain on Iran's economy that was already battered by crippling US sanctions [File: Mohamadreza Nadimi/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/86a83f0a3a06472d9d9ddbe748154782_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Tehran’s exports fell to new lows as it struggles to find buyers for its sanctions-hit oil in an oversupplied market.