It would be premature to decide whether an agreement among Opec and non-Opec oil producers to cut output, reached late last year, needs to be extended beyond six months, the UAE’s Energy Minister said on Wednesday.
Speaking at an oil industry conference, Suhail Al Mazrouei said there needed to be competition in the oil market and trying to fix the market to achieve a certain price would not work, because not everyone in Opec would support that strategy.
Producers intervened to protect the market through their agreement simply because it was already close to reaching a balance, he said.
He also said the UAE has spoken to its customers about oil supply cuts under the global agreement among producers, and was now implementing those cuts.
The impact of the output cuts by Opec and non-Opec producers is expected to be felt by the middle of this year, he added, predicting that growth in demand for oil would continue.
* Reuters
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