The 8th OPEC International Seminar gets underway in Vienna

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held the opening session of a two day meeting in Vienna on Wednesday.

Guests and speakers included Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, the Minister of Energy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the ministers of oil and gas from Iraq and Libya, and the UAE minister of energy and infrastructure, among others.

The 8th OPEC Conference is being held under the title Towards a Sustainable and Inclusive Energy Transition.

The conference will examine the current global energy landscape and future prospects in energy transitions, market stability, energy security, investment, technology, and innovation.

This comes as Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it was extending its oil production cut by one million barrels a day to boost flagging prices, while Russia announced that it would cut its exports by 500,000 bpd in August.

These measures are the latest to be taken by major producers to stabilize prices in the face of high market volatility, lingering fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's faltering economic recovery.

Saudi Arabia, the heavyweight of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), decided in early June to make a further production cut in the hope of boosting prices.

This voluntary reduction, which took effect this weekend, will continue into August and "may be extended" beyond that period, the kingdom's official news agency reported, citing a source in the Energy Ministry.

"The source confirmed that this additional voluntary reduction reinforces the precautionary measures taken by OPEC+ countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets," the agency added.

This decision maintains production in the oil-rich kingdom at around nine million barrels per day.

Announcing the cut last month following a meeting of oil producers, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdelaziz bin Salmane said it was potentially "extendable".

In April, several Opec+ members had decided to voluntarily cut their production by more than a million barrels a day, a surprise decision that briefly supported prices but did not lead to a sustained rise.