Saudi energy minister urges extension of OPEC/non-OPEC oil production cuts
ASTANA. April 28 (Interfax) - The agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC countries to cut oil production needs to be extended over the second half of 2017, Saudi Arabian Energy, Industry and Natural Resources Minister Khalid al-Falih said.
Al-Falih, speaking to reporters in Astana on Friday, expressed confidence that demand for oil would be higher in the second half of the year and that maintaining the cuts in the second half would signal that the market has rebalanced and that this will be the average supply-and-demand balance observed over the last five years.
He reiterated that it is very important to maintain the agreed cuts in the second half of the year.
Al-Falih noted that OPEC's compliance with the cuts is more than 100%, while compliance among the non-OPEC parties to the agreement is 85%, although the trend is positive, with Russia making a very good contribution to the production cuts in April.
Under the production cut agreement, which is scheduled to expire at the end of the first half of 2017, the OPEC countries will reduce oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day and the non-OPEC countries by 558,000 bpd. The agreement might be extended to the end of 2017.
The International Energy Agency reported earlier that OPEC compliance with the cuts was 98% in January-February compared with 37% for the non-OPEC countries.