RIYADH – Saudi Arabia and Iraq have expressed their commitment to maintain the agreement to cut oil production signed between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ten other nations, the Saudi official agency SPA reported Thursday.
The two countries ensured their complete commitment to reducing production during a meeting held Wednesday night between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi, according to the source.
The agreement was signed last December by the 14 OPEC member states and a Russia-led group of ten other countries; it is aimed at reducing their joint production by 1.8 million barrels a day to stabilize prices.
Despite having been extended until March 2018, the agreement has not been properly implemented by some of the countries, including Iraq, Kazakhstan, the United States and Malaysia, among others, according to recent data from the International Energy Agency.
The overproduction resulting from the incomplete compliance with the pact, together with the increase in production in the US, has maintained a situation of oversupply in the market.
|