... there was a sliver of hope that oil prices may rebound after Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia, Russia and allied oil producers will agree to deep cuts to their crude output at talks this week but only if the United States and several others join in with curbs to help prop up prices that have been hammered by the coronavirus crisis.

However, in an attempt to have its cake and eat it too, the U.S. DOE said on Tuesday that U.S. output is already falling without government action, in line with the White House's insistence that it would not intervene in the private markets. And as reported on Tuesday morning, super-major Exxon announced that it would slash capex by up to 30%, which would impact output by several hundred thousands barrels per day... but only in 2021 and onward. In other words, any organic decline would take place slowly, over the course of the next two years.