OPEC chief calls for 100% compliance on output deal

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has asked its members to ensure full conformity to individual production limits set under the producer group’s output deal last year.

“It is vital that we see the full commitment of each and every participating country. We expect 100 percent conformity,” secretary general Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo said Sunday at the second meeting of the joint committee formed to monitor the deal.

He added that total compliance to the agreement is expected to ease oversupply by mid-2017, with the market expected to rebalance towards the end of the year.

OPEC’s compliance rate for February stood at 91 percent, according to the International Energy Agency.

Barkindo also noted the “softening” of the global oil market in March, compared to January this year.

“The market’s sentiment has turned, with the combined number of WTI and Brent net-long positions falling to 695,000 (contracts) by March 14.  This is a drop of 25 percent since February 21,” he said.

However, he added that the dip was expected, attributing the decline to market developments such as seasonal low-demand period and rising US production.

The joint ministerial monitoring committee will meet once more, before the OPEC conference in May, chairman of the committee and Kuwaiti oil minister Issam A. Almarzooq said in his address.

Last December, OPEC and 11 other oil producers, including Russia, agreed to reduce their combined output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017.

Aimed at supporting the global oil market, the deal has helped push prices to above $50 a barrel.

Ahead of the monitoring committee meeting, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said that both OPEC and non-members’ compliance with the agreement is at 94 percent, Reuters reported.