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Bloomberg
Algeria’s energy minister supports extending global oil production cuts to the end of the year as the strategy is succeeding in reducing global inventories. Russia is moving ahead with its own reductions to curb a global glut.
“We are making progress in balancing the market,†Algeria’s Noureddine Boutarfa told reporters Saturday as ministers are meeting in Kuwait City to discuss compliance with the cuts. “Stocks in Europe and Asia are diminishing, we will see them diminishing in the US as well and that will reassure the market.†Iraq has made “good efforts†even if independent analysts disagree, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Ministers meeting in Kuwait on Sunday will discuss the possibility of an extension of the cuts beyond June, even if that’s not the monitoring committee’s role, Boutarfa said.
Kuwait this month became first nation to call for extending production cuts, with Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq saying inventories had grown more than expected. OPEC and 11 other major producers including Russia agreed last year to slash production, spurring a 20% increase in Brent oil prices during last 5 weeks of 2016.