Trigger for Saudi oil production cut was the comment that the U.S. would not refill its strategic petroleum reserves this year, per MarketWatch.

OPEC+ announced a surprise oil production cut of more than 1 million barrels a day, over the weekend.

Saudi Arabia led the cartel by pledging its own 500,000 barrel-a-day supply reduction.

The initial impact of the cuts, starting next month, will add up to about 1.1 million barrels a day. From July, due to the extension of Russia’s existing supply reduction, there will be about 1.6 million barrels a day less crude on the market than previously expected.

On Sunday, the White House said the OPEC+ decision wasn’t advisable under current market conditions. The Biden administration also said the US will work with producers and consumers with a focus on gasoline prices for Americans.

Notably, Saudi Arabia is reportedly importing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Russian fuel oil as it tries to meet summer cooling demands. To be specific, The country will be increasing its imports from just 320,000 tonnes from April to June 2022 to 647,000 tonnes, per data by Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking.

Reuters was able to put the pieces together and found that Saudi Arabia is more than doubling its Russian oil imports as it not only tries to meet demands but also wants to "free up the kingdom's own crude for export."

In 2021, Saudi Arabia reportedly imported 1.05 million tonnes of Russian oil. Vortexa, an energy analytics firm, gave a statement on the demand for oil that pushed Saudi Arabia to increase imports.

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