ECONOMY
Oil output cut deal will likely extend past March: Venezuela's Maduro
Baku, September 13, AZERTAC
An agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC countries to reduce oil output will “surely” continue beyond March 2018, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Madurdo said he discussed the issue with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani during a weekend tour of the Middle East, and said the possibility that the agreement would be extended “is very favorable.”
“On September 20, there will be a meeting in Vienna of (oil)ministers, the conditions are favorable for the consolidation of this agreement regarding production and regulation of the market,” Maduro said in a televised speech.
“It is likely that the agreement will be extended.”
OPEC and other major producers including Russia agreed at the end of last year to reduce their combined oil output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to help rebalance the market to prices lower crude oil prices.
In May, they agreed to extend that agreement until March of 2018 to balance the market.
Earlier on Tuesday, ministers from Russia and Venezuela met in Moscow and confirmed their commitment to the full implementation of the production cut, the Russian Energy Ministry said in a statement.
Russia and Saudi Arabia have discussed extending the output cut, but no specific decisions have been made.