Opec can extend oil cuts if needed: Al Mazrouei

Bloomberg

As the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is set to start implementing its new six-month agreement to cut output, members responsible for most of the reductions have pledged to extend or even deepen it.
Officials from Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed with Saudi Arabia’s expectation that the group, along with Russia and other oil producers, will extend the agreement for another six months. The UAE’s energy minister, while stressing that the 1.2-million barrel-a-day cut will clear an inventory buildup in the first half, hinted additional curbs could be discussed.
“The planned cuts have been carefully studied, but if it doesn’t work, we always have the option to hold an extraordinary Opec meeting and we have done so in the past,” Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, who is also Opec president, said in Kuwait. “If we are required to extend for another six months, we will, if it requires more, we always discuss and come up with the right balance.”
At a press briefing in Kuwait, Iraqi, the UAE and Algerian energy ministers took turns repeating the message that Opec will deliver its 800,000 barrels per day cut and continue their cooperation with other producers to balance supply and demand. Opec cuts may end up being deeper than agreed because of planned maintenance and production snags in some member countries, Mazrouei said. Conflict, sanctions and aging oil fields have been factors that dragged on output in Libya, Nigeria, Iran and Venezuela in recent years.
Iraq’s oil minister Thamir Abbas Ghadhban said his country’s new membership into the Opec+ monitoring committee “indicates that we are serious about meeting our commitments that will exceed what we’ve complied with in the past.” Saudi Arabia has volunteered to take the lead in trimming production by more than it has agreed. The world’s biggest oil exporter plans to pump 10.2 million barrels a day in January rather than the 10.3 million allotted to it in the Opec+ agreement.