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AFP
Muscat
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia called on Sunday for extending cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers beyond 2018, after a deal to cut output succeeded in shoring up prices.
The call, the first explicit invitation by Riyadh for long-term cooperation between oil producers, came with oil prices topping $70 a barrel thanks to the deal, after they dove below $30 a barrel in early 2016.
"We should not limit our efforts to 2018. We need to be talking about a longer framework for our cooperation,"Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh told reporters before a meeting between ministers of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in the Omani capital Muscat.
At the end of the meeting, attended by several OPEC and non-OPEC countries including the world's top producer Russia, Faleh said conformity levels were excellent.
He said that compliance level was 129 percent in December and was 107 percent for the whole of 2017.
The production cuts deal has removed two-thirds of the 330 million barrels of extra stocks that were on the market before the agreement, Faleh said.
He said improvement in the oil market will continue throughout this year and expected that"beyond 2018, we will continue to cooperate through these joint action mechanisms ... to avoid strong fluctuations that led to the oversupply glut".
Oil producers from inside and outside the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries signed a landmark agreement in November 2016 to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day to fight oversupply and lift sagging prices.
