OPEC, non-OPEC producers meet to discuss compliance with oil cut deal

VIENNA A committee of OPEC and non-OPEC countries responsible for monitoring compliance with a global agreement to reduce oil output is set to meet for the first time in Vienna on Sunday.

The committee is expected to discuss how to best monitor compliance with the deal reached late last year as well as what level of compliance would be acceptable, Kuwaiti oil minister Essam Al-Marzouq said in Vienna on Saturday.

Kuwait chairs the five-member committee which also includes Algeria, Venezuela, Russia and Oman.

Asked about compliance with the deal so far, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said it had been “very good”.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Sunday also said he was satisfied with the level of compliance shown.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers on Dec. 10 reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly by nearly 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices.

Russia has cut its oil output by around 100,000 bpd, Novak told Russia’s TASS news agency.

Falih said last week that 1.5 million bpd in crude production had already been taken out of the market.

(Writing by Ahmad Ghaddar in London; editing by Jason Neely)