All Options Open at OPEC+ Meeting in March

Business

January 25th, 7:42am

London - Asharq Al-Awsat

The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sits outside its headquarters ahead of the OPEC and NON-OPEC meeting, Austria December 6, 2019. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

OPEC is discussing extending its oil cuts until the end of the year as the market still looks down, but the discussions are still at an early stage, Russia’s TASS news agency cited an OPEC source as saying on Friday. The group of oil exporters is due to meet in March, but could also meet in June to decide on policy, the source was quoted as saying. Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud said all options are open at an OPEC+ meeting in March, including further cuts in oil production, Al Arabiya television reported. However, he added that it was too early to make a call on the need for more cuts. "When the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Russia convene for an emergency meeting in March, the grouping will study where the market is and “objectively decide” if more cuts are needed." he noted, Reuters reported. OPEC+ agreed in December to widen their supply cuts by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.7 million bpd until the end of March. Prince Abdulaziz said the aim of OPEC+ was to reduce the size of the seasonal inventory build that takes place in the first half of the year. OPEC+ is due to meet in Vienna on March 5 and 6 to set their policy. A ministerial monitoring committee for the deal will meet in Vienna on March 4. Meanwhile, the Belta news agency reported President Alexander Lukashenko as saying on Friday that Belarus was looking for alternatives to Russian oil and is in current talks with the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE about supplies.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2098691/all-options-open-opec-meeting-march