Opec considers deeper output cuts as global growth slows
Faced with slowing global economic growth and abundant reserves putting pressure on oil prices, the Opec group and its partners could seek to deepen output cuts when they meet in Vienna on Thursday and Friday.
The cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day from October 2018 levels were originally fixed in December last year and were already extended at Opec’s last meeting in July.
Some observers expected the cuts to remain in place possibly until the end of 2020. But Iraqi oil minister Thamer Ghadban on his arrival Tuesday in Vienna suggested some members would push for output to be slashed by an additional 400,000 barrels per day.
However, he added that any cut was “very much subject to the member countries”. In comments reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday, Ghadban was in favour of extending the current deal to the end of next year.
Meanwhile, Ghadban’s Saudi counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman -- half-brother of the kingdom’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- remained tight-lipped on his arrival in Vienna on Wednesday.
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