Iraq joins UAE in call to keep oil cuts till year-end

Bloomberg

Iraq joined the United Arab Emirates and Oman in calling for OPEC and allied producers to stick with their agreement to cut oil output until the end of the year, despite recent price gains.
Output cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and fellow producers have contributed to stability in the oil
market, and Iraq supports OPEC’s decision to keep the caps in place, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. OPEC’s agreement with other
suppliers in November to rein in output until the end of 2018 helped lift Brent crude briefly above $70 a barrel last week.
“There are some sources here and there indicating that the market is flourishing now, the prices are healthy, so let’s talk about terminating the freeze,” al-Luaibi said on Saturday. “This is the wrong judgment, and we don’t agree with such a concept.”
The United Arab Emirates foresees no big changes in OPEC’s policy to result from short-term price fluctuations, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said at the same event.
“We hope the whole dynamic will continue throughout 2018,” Iraq’s al-Luaibi said. “The deal should continue. The market now is stabilising somehow but it’s not yet stable.”