Moscow and Riyadh advise parties to OPEC oil production cut deal to extend it for 9 months

BEIJING, May 15. (TASS). Russia and Saudi Arabia - the key participants in the agreement on oil production reduction will recommend other parties to the deal to extend it for another nine months after the end of the current agreement, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Saudi counterpart Khalid Al-Falih said in a joint statement on the sidelines of the Belt and Road international economic forum in Beijing. "The ministers came to an understanding that to achieve the main goal of efforts to stabilize the market - bringing the volume of world oil stocks to the average for the past five years, and to confirm the manufacturers' determination to ensure stability, predictability and progressive development of the market - it is necessary to extend joint voluntary actions of leading oil producers for nine months," they said. The ministers also noted that world oil reserves declined in April-May at an accelerated pace compared with seasonal norms. "The oil reserves stored in floating storages (tankers) decreased by more than a third since the beginning of the year," they said. In addition, according to the statement, there is "a strong increase in world oil demand, which more than compensates for production growth in countries that do not participate in voluntary actions to stabilize the market." As previously reported, the participants to the deal will discuss extension of the agreement on May 25 in Vienna. Under the current pact, which expires in June 2017, they agreed to cut production by a total of 1.8 million barrels of oil per day. Read more