Baku, Azerbaijan, July 24
By Emil Ilgar – Trend:
The Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which met in St. Petersburg, Russia, will likely decide to force Libya and Nigeria to join the oil cut deal, Fereydoun Barkeshli, president of Vienna Energy Research Group in Austria and the National Iranian Oil Company’s former general manager for OPEC and international affairs, told Trend July 24.
Alongside Saudi Arabia, the committee known as the JMMC, includes Russia, Kuwait, Venezuela, Algeria and Oman.
“The pressure on Libya may be harder, because it has increased oil output more than expected. The OPEC’s commitment to oil cut deal also decreased from 107 percent in February to 92 percent currently. By the way, Saudi Arabia with 32 percent of OPEC’s total output has fortunately good compliance with the deal as of now and manages the markets like it did in 1980s,” he said.
Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday that Libya and Nigeria were approaching the moment when their output should be capped due to significant rises in recent months, Reuters reported.
Libya has been producing over 1 million bpd, below its capacity of 1.4 million to 1.6 million bpd but near its record high since violence erupted in 2011. Nigeria has also ramped up the output. The two have now increased their output by about 700,000 to 800,000 bpd since the OPEC-led pact was agreed.