Riyadh – Mubasher: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), along with its allies including Russia, may reduce curbs on crude oil production in 2019, Saudi oil minister Khalid Al-Falih has said.
OPEC members and non-members taking part in the oil production agreed to phase out the reductions during the coming period, Bloomberg reported on Sunday citing Al-Falih as saying New Delhi.
Producers are currently in talks over what the crude rebalance will result in, the minister noted, indicating that further details would be announced at a later time.
Al-Falih could not pinpoint the time or means for reducing the current curbs, but stated: “What we know is that it’s going to be done in a way that it will not in any way disturb the balance and undo the hard work since 2016.”
The Saudi oil official also welcomed the increase in US oil output, citing growing demand for oil in 2018.
Looking to move forward with new projects, Russian oil firms “have pushed for a swift end to the curbs, while OPEC members like Iraq, Iran and Libya are keen to expand capacity after years of lost revenues amid sanctions and conflict,” according to Bloomberg.
“The framework beyond 2018 is yet to be determined, but for sure from the Saudi and from the OPEC standpoint, there is a determination to translate the success of 2017 and 2018…to avoid instability in the oil markets,” Al-Falih concluded.
Last year, OPEC members and non-members agreed to trim their oil output in attempt to support faltering oil prices. In June 2016, oil prices plummeted from over $100 a barrel to as low as $40 a barrel. Since then, OPEC members have renewed the agreement several times to support prices and their fiscal oil-dependent budgets.
