A watershed agreement in April to slash oil production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, aka OPEC-plus, has begun to achieve its intended effect of rebalancing an oversupplied global crude market, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.

At the time of the agreement, OPEC-plus called for a cut to oil output by an initial 9.7 b/d in May that gradually tapers through April 2022, when the deal culminates. This came in response to the demand destruction imposed by the coronavirus pandemic and the heavy downward pressure it put on oil prices last spring.

EIA said its data show that total crude production decreased by 6.0 million b/d from April to May as a result of the deal, marking the largest monthly decline since 1993....