OPEC, allies says production cuts ahead of schedule
VIENNA — OPEC and key non-OPEC oil producers are near their target of taking 1.8 million barrels of crude a day off global markets less than two months after agreeing to do so in efforts to push up the price of crude, Russia’s energy minister said Sunday.
Alexander Novak’s upbeat comments to reporters came at the end of the first meeting of a joint OPEC-non-OPEC committee set up to monitor compliance to the Dec. 10 agreement.
Back then, Russia and 10 other nations outside OPEC decided to join with the 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce the daily amount of oil on sale by 1.8 million barrels in the first six months of this year.
Novak said firm figures wouldn’t be available before the end of the month on what already had been achieved. But he estimated that “close to” 1.5 million barrels a day had been cut as of late January, adding that many countries are exceeding promised reductions.