Kuwait lauds non-OPEC output cut decision

Kuwait Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Delegate to the UN Office in Vienna Sadeq Maarafi welcomed the decision of the non-OPEC countries to cut their oil output by 558,000 barrels per day (bpd).

“This historic decision will have a positive impact on the global market as it will help end the glut in oil supplies,” he said in statements Saturday night following the OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting. “The decision, to take effect on January 1 for a renewable six-month period, will ensure fair prices for both producers and consumers. “The implementation of today’s decision and the OPEC decision on November 30 to cut its output by 1.2 million bpd will be overseen by a ministerial committee chaired by Kuwait and including Algeria, Oman, Russia and Venezuela.”

“Today’s decision opened a new chapter in the fruitful cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC countries in the short and long run,” Marrafi said, expecting the global market to respond soon to such decisions by the marker oil producers.

On the OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, the Kuwaiti diplomat said the meeting was cochaired by Dr Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada President of the OPEC Conference and Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, and Alexander Novak Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation. It gathered representatives of 11 non-OPEC countries and agreed to add Russia and Oman to the membership of the OPEC ministerial committee. The committee is expected to meet soon under the chairmanship of Kuwait’s newly-appointed Minister of Oil Essam Abdulmohsen Al-Marzouq, he added.