Russia and Saudi Arabia vow to keep cutting oil production this summer

• Russia and Saudi Arabia vowed to keep slashing oil production through the summer.
• Russia will cut production 500,000 barrels a day starting August. Saudi Arabia will extend its cut of 1.4 million barrels.

Russia and Saudi Arabia have vowed to extend their oil production cuts through the summer, leading crude prices to inch higher as energy markets braced for tighter supply.

Russia will voluntarily slash its oil production by half a million barrels a day starting in August, deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Monday.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, which already slashed production by a million barrels a day in July, has said it would extend its production cut through August, according to a statement from the nation's press agency.

Oil prices inched higher on Monday as markets assessed the supply outlook. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1% to trade at $76.03 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia has worked to push crude prices higher for months, with the nation's energy chief citing market "distortions" that have sent prices to artificially low levels. OPEC+, the oil cartel which Saudi Arabia is the de facto leader of, slashed its crude production aggressively through last year, before Saudi Arabia began its own voluntary production cuts this summer to further tighten supply and raise prices.

The country has also aired its displeasure with Russia, which has worked to keep its energy revenue afloat under Western sanctions by selling vast amounts of cheap crude to mostly Asian customers.

In May, Saudi officials accused Russia of not following through with promised OPEC+ production cuts, the Wall Street Journal reported. That caused oil prices to fall under $81 a barrel, a key break-even level that's needed to fund large swaths of Saudi Arabia's economy.

But both nations recently doubled-down on their resolve to boost oil prices together, with Novak stating in a June meeting that Russia would adhere to the 1.4 million barrel-a-day cut imposed on OPEC+ members in April. Russia will carry those production cuts through the end of 2024, Novak added.