Saudi Arabia was the architect of the production cuts, which helped support crude prices for the past three years. The Kingdom's first move was to drastically increase production starting April 1 by 2.6 million barrels a day, to a record 12.3 million barrels. The next day, state oil giant Saudi Aramco announced it would slash prices to preferred customers. The moves shocked the energy market, with the biggest one day fall in crude since 1991. Come April, Saudi Arabia will likely take the number two slot with Russia dropping down a notch, with limited capacity to expand.

Source: CNN March 13, 2020 19:52 UTC