APS : Sunday, 23 December 2018
ALGIERS- Minister of Energy Mustapha Guitouni expressed on Sunday in Kuwait his “confidence” as regards the oil market fundamentals following the last decision of OPEC and non-OPEC countries,
said the ministry in a communiqué
Speaking to the press in the sidelines of the 101th meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), the minister said that the last agreement of OPEC countries will have a positive impact on the market: “We needed a quarter year in 2017 to see the wanted impacts of the adjustments of late 2016.”
The energy minister also said that the “OPEC production will significantly decrease compared to October 2018 output level as 21 out of the 24 OPEC member countries will voluntarily reduce their output as of January while some will cut even more because of the natural decline or intentionally as it is already announced by Saudi Arabia.”
“We will meet again in April to assess the market conditions and consider the possibility to act accordingly. Over the last two years, we have already demonstrated our flexibility and our reactivity,” he added.
The implementation of the OPEC-non-OPEC agreement will contribute to balancing the market, he said.
It will “boost the investments and the overall economic growth. It will also attract investments in the oil chain so to meet the demand in the future. Our approach serves the interest of both consuming and producing countries,” he said.
In this regard, Guitouni said that the OPEC members’ average conformity level with the agreement was 115%.
About Algeria, he said: “we have always respected our commitments and we will continue to comply with the new deal.”
In early December, OPEC and its partners, including Russia agreed to cut 1.2 million barrels per day as of January.
