Committee recommends that Opec extend oil output cut deal by 9 months

The joint ministerial monitoring committee held its meeting in Vienna a day before a full Opec ministerial meeting is due to decide whether to extend the deal, for how long and whether to keep the same output ceilings or lower them.

Opec and non-Opec countries meet on Thursday in Vienna to discuss an extension of the production cut deal. Joe Klamar / AFP

The committee monitoring progress of the output restraint deal between Opec and 11 other non-member countries on Wednesday recommended extending the deal for another nine months once its initial period expires at the end of June.

The joint ministerial monitoring committee (JMMC), which is alternately chaired by Kuwait and Russia, and includes Algeria, Venezulea and the non-Opec member Oman, held its third meeting in Vienna a day before a full Opec ministerial meeting is due to decide whether to extend the deal, for how long and whether to keep the same output ceilings or lower them.

A statement by the JMMC noted that compliance in April had been 102 per cent, but added that current market conditions and the briefing the committee had heard from technical advisers about the outlook merited an extension of the deal through the first quarter of next year.

“The JMMC should continue monitoring conformity levels as well as market conditions and immediate prospects, and recommend further adjustment actions, if deemed necessary,” the statement added.

The committee will hold its next meeting in Russia, the largest non-Opec party to the deal, in July, assuming ministers agree a rollover of the deal in Vienna this week.

last year to cut output by as much as 1.8 million barrels a day. The supply reductions were initially intended to last six months from January.

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