FirstFT: Opec+ makes surprise cuts in oil production

Saudi Arabia and other members of the Opec+ group have announced surprise oil production cuts totalling more than 1mn barrels a day.

Saudi Arabia will implement a “voluntary cut” of 500,000 b/d, or just under 5 per cent of its output, in “co-ordination with some other Opec and non-Opec countries”, it said on Sunday.

The Saudi-led initiative has been deemed unusual because it was announced outside a formal Opec+ meeting, suggesting an element of urgency by the members taking part in the cuts.

The cuts come after the collapse of the US’s Silicon Valley Bank caused a sharp fall in oil prices last month, and the forced takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, which sparked fears of contagion in global financial markets and a significant drop-off in demand for crude.

The surprise cuts also risk reigniting disputes between Riyadh and the US, which last year pushed for the kingdom to pump more oil in a bid to tame rampant inflation amid a surge in energy costs.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: S&P Global/Cips/Caixin final manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data for Canada, China, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, and the US is released today.

• Manufacturing: Japan releases its Tankan large manufacturing index today.

• Space mission: Four astronauts who will orbit the Moon on the Artemis II mission — the first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System and Orion Spacecraft ahead of a future Moon landing — will be named by the US, Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency today.

As always, thank you for reading FirstFT and let us know if you have any feedback at firstft@ft.com.

Five more top stories

1. Russian pro-war blogger has been killed in a St Petersburg restaurant blast. The attack injured 25 people, with 19 of them hospitalised.

2. Donald Trump’s lawyers will move to dismiss charges against him, as he awaits arraignment on Tuesday. The former president will plead not guilty, Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said.

3. Finland’s Sanna Marin concedes election defeat, as Finland’s centre-right opposition, the National Coalition party, clinched victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

4. Tesla rolls out a record number of new cars in the first quarter, delivering 422,875 vehicles in the first three months of 2023, up 4 per cent on the previous quarter.

5. China presses Japan to change course on chip export curbs as Beijing takes a more active role in the face of a US sanctions regime that since late last year has sought to restrict global semiconductor-related exports to the Chinese mainland.

The Big Read

Syria’s first lady, Asma al-Assad, styles herself publicly as the Mother of the Nation — radiating maternal care. But privately, Asma has manoeuvred herself into a position of remarkable power, according to interviews with 18 people familiar with the regime’s operations, including heads of business, aid workers and former government officials. The FT’s Middle East Correspondent, Raya Jalabi, explores how a woman initially sidelined as an obstinate young newly-wed with lofty western ideals has since risen to become one of the most powerful people in the country.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Opinion: India premier Narendra Modi will struggle to cage the Gandhi dynasty, writes the FT’s John Reed, while some argue his expulsion from parliament will end up helping him by removing Gandhi as a plausible prime ministerial candidate, or actually building him up as a political martyr.

• 2008 veteran: Colm Kelleher helped steer Morgan Stanley through the financial crisis. Now he hopes to do the same with UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse.

• Climate Exchange: David Craig, co-chair of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, on how our economy is completely dependent on nature.

Chart of the day

A large and fast-growing population of older migrant workers in China are taking on menial jobs to make ends meet, after being left behind by the country’s economic recovery. As factories across the country set age limits for job applicants at 40 years old (or even lower), older migrant workers — who disproportionately lack advanced education and skills that would allow them to transition into higher-paid or lower-intensity work — have turned to part-time work or industries known for harsh conditions.

Take a break from the news

After two-and-a-half years of China’s zero-Covid policy, many visual artists have had enough. In this week’s Life and Arts section, Alex Colville explores the range of strategies visual artists have used to make themselves heard and test censorship’s new red line.

Additional contributions by Tee Zhuo and Emily Goldberg