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20:27 GMT
Saudi Oil Minister declares the decision of OPEC and non-OPEC countries to extend the previous agreement on limiting production
VIENNA, Nov 30 (KUNA) -- OPEC member and non-member countries decided on Thursday to extend their previous agreement on limiting their production until the end of 2018.
The decision is subject to revision when the 24 partners convene their semi-annual conference in next June, according to the Declaration of Cooperation released at the end of the 173rd Meeting of the OPEC Conference.
Representatives of the 14 OPEC members and Azerbaijan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Republic of Sudan, Republic of South Sudan, agreed that the Declaration will take effect for the whole year of 2018 from January to December 2018.
They pledged full and timely conformity with voluntary agreed production adjustments individually and collectively.
They decided to strengthen cooperation through a dynamic and transparent framework, including regular monitoring, joint analyses and outlooks for a sustainable market stability in the medium- to long-term, for the benefit of producers and consumers.
They also decided to support the extension of the mandate of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) composed of Algeria, Kuwait, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and two participating non-OPEC countries of the Russian Federation and Oman, chaired by Saudi Arabia, co-chaired by the Russian Federation, and assisted by the Joint Technical Committee at the OPEC Secretariat, to closely review the status of and conformity with the Declaration of Cooperation and report to the OPEC-non-OPEC Conference.
They pledged to ensure continuity and proactive cooperation through established regular meetings at technical and ministerial levels, according to the declaration.
The OPEC members met on November 30, 2016, and decided to undertake a production adjustment of 1.2 million barrels a day (mb/d) for six (6) months, effective from 1st January 2017.
On December 10, 2016, the ten non-OPEC producing countries stated their desire to achieve oil market stability in the interest of all producers and consumers, and proposed to voluntarily adjust their oil production by 558,000 barrels a day (tb/d), as of January 1, 2017 for six months.
On May 25, 2017, the partners amended the Declaration of Cooperation to extend for a further nine months as of July 1, 2017.
The agreement helped cut the glut on the global oil market by almost a half but inventories kept their record high of 140 million barrels, according to OPEC data.
The crude inventories declined by 3.4 million over the week ending on November 24 while observers previously projected the decline at 2.3 million barrels. (end)
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