Thursday, Jun 22, 2017

Abu Dhabi

The Joint Opec-Non-Opec Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) stated that countries participating in the production cut agreement recorded 106 per cent conformity with their voluntary adjustments in production, the highest conformity since the deal came into effect since January 1 this year.

The JMMC was established following Opec’s ministerial conference on November 30 last year, and the subsequent declaration of cooperation made at the joint Opec-Non-Opec Producing Countries’ Ministerial Meeting held on December 10.

Eleven non-Opec oil producing countries are cooperating with the 13 Opec Member Countries in a concerted effort to accelerate the stabilisation of the global oil market through voluntary adjustments in combined production of around 1.8 million barrels per day. The agreement was extended for another nine months in May this year.

“The JMMC expressed great satisfaction that overall conformity levels by Opec and participating non-Opec producing countries have steadily increased from January to May 2017, exceeding 100 per cent in both April and May to reach its highest level since January 2017,” Opec said in a statement on Thursday.

In May 2017, the Opec and participating non-Opec producing countries achieved a conformity level of 106 per cent, an increase of 4 percentage points over the April 2017 performance.

The statement said the JMMC took note of the recent market development and expressed confidence that the oil market is moving in the right direction towards the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration of Cooperation, and further encouraged all participating countries to press on towards full conformity levels.

Oil prices are trending lower despite the extension of the production cut agreement in May. Global benchmark Brent is currently trading at $45 per barrel with the US crude West Texas Intermediate at about $43 per barrel.

By Fareed Rahman Senior Reporter

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