BackMajor oil producers reach agreement to extend output cuts
Opec and other producers, including Russia, agreed in December to pump less oil in an effort to counter a global glut
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Abu Dhabi:Crude-producing countries reached an initial agreement to extend output cuts, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said on Thursday, as persistently high stockpiles and resurgent output from US shale fields weigh on prices.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and other major suppliers have failed, after three months of limiting production, to achieve their target of reducing oil inventories below the five-year historical average, Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Al-Falih said. The producers pledged to reduce output for six months starting in January.
“Although there is a high level of commitment, we haven’t reached our goal, which is to reach the five-year average," Al-Falih said. “There is an initial agreement that we might be obligated to extend to get to our target." Countries participating in the cuts have yet to reach a consensus on prolonging their agreement into the second half of the year, and an extension would not necessarily be for an additional six months. he said.
Opec and other producers, including Russia, agreed in December to pump less oil in an effort to counter a global glut. Output shows signs of rebounding in the US, where explorers have added rigs for the past 13 weeks, data from Baker Hughes Inc. show. Opec will decide at a meeting on 25 May whether to prolong its pledged cuts into the second half, the group’s secretary-general Mohammad Barkindo said on Wednesday.
Gulf cooperation council countries agreed to push for an extension of cuts in a meeting on Wednesday, Oman oil minister Mohammed Al Rumhy said. The GCC comprises Opec members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Oman and Bahrain. GCC states are participating in the current deal to cap output.
Iran and Venezuela, both members of Opec, have expressed support for an extension of the production cuts, Al Rumhy said. Iran’s oil minister made a commitment to freeze output at 3.8 million barrels a day for the rest of the year on the assumption the cuts are extended beyond June, Kuwait oil minister Issam Almarzooq told reporters.
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