Vienna, July 3 - Neftegaz.RU. The 6th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held on July 2, under the Co-Chairmanship of OPEC’s President, Manuel Fernandez, Minister of Petroleum of Venezuela, and Alexander Novak, Russian Minister of Energy.
As expected, OPEC has decided to extend crude oil production cuts until March, an effort to keep prices steady. The countries agreed to hold back oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day, as they have since 2017.
Russia noted again that it would be happy with lower oil prices than its Middle Eastern partners, but even so it has once again agreed to continue cutting.
“We have come to the opinion that we need to continue our joint cooperation for another 9 months until March 2020. We also agreed to closely monitor the situation on a monthly basis,” Aleksandr Novak said on July 2.
The Russian energy minister said he forecasts global oil demand to rise this year by 1.1 million to 1.2 million barrels a day. That would imply a slowdown in growth from 1.3 million barrels a day last year, according to data from the IEA.
The U.S. is now the world's top oil producer, pumping an average of 12.1 million barrels per day. That means U.S. imports from OPEC have declined to the lowest level in 3 decades.
The next OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting will convene in Austria, on December 6, 2019.
To read the article in Russian.