Saudi Arabia maintains key role for oil market stability: Al-Falih

Saudi Arabia will keep its central role in maintaining oil market stability during the second half of the year, Arab News reported, citing Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih.

“There’s an emerging consensus among OPEC+ countries to continue their work towards market stability in the second half of the year,” Al-Falih said.

“Saudi Arabia will surely continue to play its central role alongside its OPEC+ partners in this endeavor,” he added.

OPEC has agreed with Russia and other non-OPEC producers to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1, 2019 for six months to address weak prices and inventory build-up.

“The Kingdom is closely monitoring recent developments in the oil market, which exhibited an elevated level of volatility in recent weeks. And these levels are totally unwarranted in light of both the current market fundamentals, which remain healthy, and the high levels of discipline by OPEC+ producers,” Al-Falih said.

“The effectiveness of OPEC+ efforts has been well-proven over the course of almost 30 months, despite facing skepticism from the onset, which gradually gave way to credibility. The 24 countries in the group remain committed to the shared objective of balancing the oil market for the benefit of producers and consumers everywhere,” he continued.

“We have previously stated our commitment to do whatever it takes to stabilize markets and we have delivered on those promises. And I am making that commitment again,” Al-Falih added.

OPEC and its non-OPEC partners earlier agreed to meet on June 25-26 in Vienna to decide whether to keep their production quotas for the rest of the year, but the meeting may now be held on July 3-4 due to scheduling constraints.

“When we meet in Vienna, we will review current and prospective economic and oil market conditions, and their implications for supply and demand balances, and inventory trends. Guided by this review, we will deliberate the best course of action, and work on reaching a consensus,” Al-Falih said.