Riyadh – Mubasher: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies may cancel their next meeting due to be held in April in Vienna, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Monday.
The US has not pressured to raise crude output, but the oil-exporter bloc and its partners are only pressured by the market, Reuters reported, citing Khalid al-Falih as saying to reporters ahead of a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku.
With rising oil inventories, the oil cartel and its allies will “stay the course guiding the market towards balance…until the end of June” al-Falih added.
Commenting on waivers from sanctions on Iranian crude oil that could be extended by the US, Al-Falih said that “until … it [is] hurting consumers…, [OPEC and its partners] are not going to change course.”
On Sunday, al-Falih expressed optimism about continued commitment to the oil supply cut agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members.
The Saudi-dominated oil cartel last December agreed with Russia and its allies on significantly cutting oil production in a bid to mop up a global supply glut.
