Kuwait Begins OPEC+ Cuts Ahead of Schedule

Kuwait said it has started cutting oil output ahead of May 1, the date when suppliers worldwide plan to start slashing production to counter a devastating glut.
The fourth-biggest member of OPEC “felt responsibility to respond to market conditions” and acted on its own, Oil Minister Khaled Al-Fadhel said, Bloomberg reported. 
He did not specify whether Kuwait has reduced production by the full amount it pledged to cut, or only part of it.
Kuwait is the first major producer in the Persian Gulf, the world’s most prolific oil-producing region, to announce that it is pumping less oil ahead of schedule. 
Like other members of the so-called OPEC+ coalition, it committed to pare production by 23% starting from May 1. Kuwait made a “sovereign” decision and was not pressured to reduce output early, Al-Fadhel said.
US crude prices have plunged 74% this year amid a swelling glut and the coronavirus pandemic’s destruction of fuel demand. 
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers such as Russia agreed earlier in April to curtail collective output by 9.7 million barrels a day beginning next month.