Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News
Oil producers pledged to consider extending their pact limiting supply, as half a dozen nations said more time was needed to drain swollen stockpiles.
Five OPEC members and Oman backed an extension, with Kuwait saying it should be for six months. The ministers met March 26 in Kuwait City and asked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to make a recommendation in a month on the possibility of prolonging the supply curbs.
“We are ready to support” extending the deal, which took effect in January, Venezuela’s Oil Minister Nelson Martinez said on March 26. Fellow OPEC producers Iraq, Algeria and Angola also have backed an extension. “It does make sense to extend the agreement for another six months,” said Mohammed Al Rumhy, energy minister for non-OPEC producer Oman.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading down 4 cents at $50.76 a barrel as of 9:23 a.m. on March 27. in Singapore.
Kuwait in March became the first nation to call for extending the production cuts, with Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq saying inventories had grown more than expected. OPEC and 11 other major producers including Russia agreed in 2016 to slash production, spurring a 20% increase in Brent crude prices during the last five weeks of 2016. The rally stalled this year as U.S. output and supplies continued to grow. OPEC ministers will meet May 25 in Vienna to decide whether to extend the deal.
A compliance committee of OPEC ministers from Kuwait, Algeria and Venezuela and their counterparts from Russia and Oman concluded meetings in Kuwait City on March 26 with a statement asking OPEC to review the market and give them a recommendation in April on rolling over the cuts.
Russia Energy Minister Alexander Novak said it’s too early to talk about an extension and that it won’t make any pledges until April. Russia needs more time to assess the market, inventories and production in the United States and other non-OPEC countries, Novak said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
| By Wael Mahdi, Elena Mazneva and Sam Wilkin Bloomberg News |
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