I’ll believe it when I see it’ – Saudi Arabia doubts oil recovery and keeps taps tight

I’ll believe it when I see it’ – Saudi Arabia doubts oil recovery and keeps taps tight

LONDON (Reuters) - This week's surprise decision by Saudi Arabia and other top oil producers to broadly stick with output cuts despite rising crude prices was influenced by events in an unexpected place - Italy.

About a year after the country's financial heart became one of the first European cities to enter a lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, Milan is again facing restrictions.

"Take a look at what is happening in Milan today,“ Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud told a news conference on Thursday after a meeting of OPEC and its allies.

"These things, they don't keep you at ease with the idea of venturing, leaping into an unknown future,“ he added.

Restrictions on movement destroyed up to a fifth of oil demand last year and led OPEC and its allies - known as OPEC+ - to make record output cuts.

And while global oil futures are back where they were before the pandemic - which for many pundits and investors heralded more production from OPEC+ - the recovery in fuel demand has been tepid as global travel remains subdued.

Thursday's meeting saw OPEC+ mostly rolling over its production cuts into April, and Riyadh extending its voluntary 1 million barrels per