11:55 - 7.12.2018

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December 7, Fineko/abc.az. Petroleum Minister Khalid al-Faleh of Saudi Arabia hopes that the decision on reduction of oil extraction will be made on 7 December.

Russian news agency TASS reports the OPEC member countries have not yet agreed at the Vienna meeting about specific volumes of production cuts. The relevant statement was made by the Saudi minister.

"We don't have a decision yet," he said.

He noted that Saudi Arabia hopes that the decision to reduce oil production within OPEC+ will be made on 7 December.

"I hope so," Mr. al-Faleh, when asked if a decision could be made tomorrow. He, however, added that he was not sure about it.

The Saudi minister also informed that the reduction of oil production by 1 million bpd still remains the main scenario.

At the same time, before the meeting on Thursday, Mr. al-Faleh said that the ministers were discussing the reduction of production by 1 million bpd. According to TASS sources, oil production will be reduced from the level of October 2018.

Iraqi Oil Minister Tamer al-Ghadban also stated at the end of the meeting that Iraq expects that a final decision on reduction of oil production will be made on Friday.

"We’ll continue to discuss tomorrow with the non-OPEC countries and hope to reach agreements," he said.

He pointed out that each minister at the meeting of the OPEC Monitoring Committee presented his point of view on Thursday, and there were no disagreements between them.

"There were no disagreements, there were discussions. Of course, everyone had his own opinion and own interests, as countries with different volumes of production are in different situations. But (at the meeting) there were no disagreements, there were objective discussions," he said.

The minister neither commented on the possible quotas of production cuts nor the question of who can get exemption from these quotas.

In his turn, Oil & Gas Minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhi of Oman said that his country considers it optimal to lower oil production within OPEC+ by 1-1.3 million bpd.

"It is 1 million, 1.2-1.3 million barrels, like this. In any case, this figure exceeds 1 million barrels," he said, replying the question about what level of oil production cuts he considers optimal.

He added that the ministers can extend the cooperation agreement for another 1-2 years at the meeting on 7 December.

"You know we are discussing the terms of reduction, and this is from six months, it was already mentioned. The second issue on the agenda tomorrow is the extension of the cooperation agreement. And we think we will sign it tomorrow for another 1-2 years," he said.