Published
By (AFP)
Vienna – Oil producer
nations agreed Thursday to keep a lid on output for all of next year, despite
Russia starting to get cold feet and tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia in
the Middle East.
Twenty-four countries
decided to maintain production curbs of 1.8 million barrels per day until
December 31, 2018, the energy minister of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said.
”I am please to
announce that the decision has been unanimous. It’s a solid decision… which is
to roll over and extend the deal through the end of December 2018,” Khaled
al-Falih told a news conference in Vienna.
The agreement among the
14 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 others
including Russia was first struck a year ago and was already extended once
until March 31, 2018.
The aim is to reduce a
global excess in supply that has pushed oil prices lower and left a huge hole
in the finances of producer nations, despite making life easier for buyers of
crude.
So far, it has worked,
helping oil prices climb from less than $30 in early 2016 to around $60 now and
reducing bloated inventories to more normal levels.
On Thursday oil prices
dipped, however, giving back some of their recent gains, with Brent Crude off
23 cents at $62.30 and fellow benchmark West Texas Intermediate down 26 cents
at $57.04.
The situation has been
helped by improved economic conditions, notably in energy-hungry China, that
have boosting demand for crude.
Higher prices have been
of little help to OPEC member Venezuela, however, teetering on the brink of a
full-blown debt default.
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