Too early to decide on deepening oil production cut

The Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee,JMMC, has no authority over executive decisions to continue lowering global oil production, said Kuwait's Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Essam Al-Marzouq Wednesday.

In a joint news conference with Venezuela's Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino, Al-Marzouq -- who chairs the committee -- said that it was too early to take a decision whether to continue to reinforce or deepen the production decrease.

Quoted by Kuwait News Agency, the minister indicated the current production rate will continue to be implemented until March of 2018.

OPEC's ministerial committee might consider recommendations made by the JMMC as long as it was backed by solid data and numbers, said the minister who stressed that there were no decisions yet to deepen the production cuts.

In regards to del Pino's visit to Kuwait, Al-Marzouq said that it was within the JMMC's efforts to exchange views on the status quo of the global market and the production cut decision.

The meeting with del Pino also touched on the recent natural disasters in the US which had an effect on global crude markets, added Minister Al-Marzouq.

The JMMC is composed of three OPEC members - Kuwait, Algeria, and Venezuela - and two non-OPEC countries, Russia and Oman.

Its next meeting will be on September 23, said Al-Marzouq who indicated that the committee will discuss reports and recommendations regarding the global prices during the event.

The Kuwaiti Minister noted that other OPEC nations such Libya and Nigeria might be invited to discuss the possibility of lowering their production to meet demand for a stable market.

Countries not part of the current production cut deal might also be asked to join the current efforts, said the minister.

On his part, Minister del Pino said that he had visited several countries in the past 15 months to ensure that the deal would hold. He lauded Kuwait's strong leadership and desire to keep the market stable.

Del Pino affirmed that he would continue to meet with OPEC counterparts to make sure that all involved parties commit to the deal, adding that it was important not to spread false news and rumors that might compromise the whole effort.

At the December meeting, 11 non-OPEC oil producers cooperated with the 13 OPEC member countries in a concerted effort to accelerate the rebalancing of the global oil market through an adjustment in combined production of 1.8 million b/d.