Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.6
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
OPEC could cut production at its late November meeting in Vienna by another 1 percent more than the amount agreed in Algiers, Reuters reported citing Algeria's Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa.
Earlier in September, OPEC producers agreed during the informal meeting to cut down the oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from current production of 33.24 million bpd.
How much each country will produce is to be decided at the next formal meeting of OPEC in November.
Bouterfa told one of the local TV channels that OPEC and non-OPEC members will hold an informal meeting in Istanbul Oct. 8-13 to discuss how to implement the Algiers deal.
"We will evaluate the market in Vienna by the end of November and if 700,000 barrels are not enough, we will go up,” he said.
“If we need to cut by 1 percent, we will cut by 1 percent," added Bouterfa.
Earlier, commenting on the deal in Algiers, he said OPEC will go back to its role of monitoring the market.
However, Erkal Ersoy, assistant professor and co-principal investigator at Heriot-Watt University’s Center for Energy Economics Research and Policy has told Trend that for the cut to have a substantial effect, non-OPEC producers would need to refrain from accelerating production as prices inch higher.
The expert noted that OPEC agreement has a vague nature, reminding that individual member countries of the cartel have not formally agreed to a freeze level.