UAE’s energy minister expects progress in oil output cuts soon

ABU DHABI, Mar 28 (PRIME) -- Oil producing countries will make good progress in fulfilling the production cut deal in the next two months, Energy Minister of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) Suhail Al Mazroui told reporters at the Global Industrial Summit on Tuesday.

“It is very important that oil producers comply with an agreement to cut crude output. The results of the first two months are encouraging, commitment to the agreement is well demonstrated,” he said.

“Some counties do not stick to the arrangements fully, but we keep negotiating with them to reach the major goal of reducing output.”

The U.A.E. plans to lower oil output by 200,000 barrels per day in March-May, more than the country is obliged under the agreement, the minister said.

Al Mazroui also said that he is not concerned with the rise in shale oil production in the U.S. as he does not believe the industry will expand enough to influence global demand for oil. He also said that a recent growth of the U.S. oil reserves in storages was connected with maintenance operations at oil refineries. Global demand for hydrocarbons will grow in the second half of the year supporting the market, he said.

A joint OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee responsible for monitoring compliance with the agreement convened earlier in March for its second meeting to suggest that the agreement should be prolonged for another six months.

OPEC states agreed to reduce their oil production by 1.2 million barrels daily to 32.5 million barrels in November 2016. Russia joined the agreement in December with a promise to cut output by 300,000 barrels daily compared with the level of October 2016. The agreement was concluded for January–June 2017 with potential prolongation.

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