(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Opec and its global allies including Russia may end their production cuts before 2019 if the crude market re-balances by June, Kuwait's oil minister said.
Russia is keen to end the output-capping deal as early as possible, Issam Almarzooq said in an interview yesterday in Kuwait City. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will study an exit strategy from the global cuts accord at its next meeting in June, he told reporters later.
'We still have a full year left in the agreement, but there is a possibility that we exit the cuts agreement before 2019 if the market is re-balanced by June, Almarzooq said. 'There is pressure from Russia to exit the deal as soon as possible once the market is balanced, he said.
Opec and its partners agreed on November 30 to keep curbing production until the end of next year, in a bid to drain oversupplied world markets and prop up prices. Crude dropped in the week after their decision to extend the cuts as investors turned attention to expanding US oil production and gasoline stockpiles. Prices have since edged higher as near-record Chinese orders for foreign crude signalled stronger demand in the world's second-largest economy.
US crude production expanded for a seventh week to 9.71mn bpd, the highest level in weekly data compiled by the US Energy Information Administration since 1983. Gasoline inventories surged by 6.78mn barrels last week, the biggest gain since January.
Kuwait sees a full re-balancing of the oil market by the end of 2018, Almarzooq said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. Prices should remain near current levels in 2018, he said. Iraq's Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said it was 'too early to speculate on what Opec and its partners in the cuts will decide in June.
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