UPDATE 2: Ministers recommend oil cut production deal extended

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ST. PETERSRBURG/VIENNA, Nov 29 (PRIME) -- A Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) has recommended participants of the oil production cut deal prolong it, and ministers of the states that participate in the deal will form a final decision on Thursday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Wednesday.

“We’ve all recommended prolongation of the agreement. Specific details will be discussed tomorrow at the meeting of all the ministers, and then we will be able to demonstrate results to you. I will not disclose it now, as it was only a meeting of the JMMC, and all the 24 states will discuss the situation tomorrow. But I am sure that it will be done within recommendations of the JMMS, and that the results will be good,” he said.

Bloomberg reported citing Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouq that the committee discussed options of prolongation for six months and for nine months, and recommended that OPEC states and non-OPEC countries prolong their deal but did not specify the term.

“In general, we understand that we have to take further steps to rebalance the market. We will discuss specific scenarios now at the meeting of the ministerial monitoring committee, and we will announce a decision that we will make later,” Novak said. “In general, we have a common ground,” Novak said when asked whether he had reached a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabian counterpart Khalid al-Falih.

The agreement is successful, and still has a positive impact on the market. But OPEC states and independent oil producing countries should work out a strategy that they will adhere to starting from April 2018, he said.

“Today, we are to summarize the results of the agreement’s implementation for 10 months since it came in force. We are to discuss the current situation at markets and to come to a conclusion that will allow us to reach a complete rebalancing of the market,” he said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters that there was no final decision to prolong a OPEC+ deal between OPEC and non-OPEC countries, and that participants of the deal continued their consultations.

“We are still holding consultations, there is understanding that we may need to (prolong the deal), but there are factors that we need to analyze additionally in order to make a final decision,” he said.

Oman’s Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhi told reporters separately that a technical committee of the OPEC+ deal had calculated that participants of the deal have fulfilled it by 115% in October, down from 120% in September.

In November 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC states agreed to reduce their oil production to rebalance the market. 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 and was prolonged for nine more months in May.

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