Saudi Arabia hints at cuts extension

摘要

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid al-Falih has hinted that Opec and its non-Opec partners are likely to extend their production restraint agreement until the end of this year, despite criticism from the US. The participants in the Opec/non-Opec deal are “on course” in their imple- mentation of agreed cuts “and 2019 is long enough for us to correct the imbal- ance that took place in the latter part of 2018, so we just need to give it time,” al-Falih said in a televised interview on CNBC. “We know that the tanks in the US are brimming with extra supplies, US production continues to increase, and we are seeing an inventory overhang that could be destructive to the interests of consumer and producers alike,” the oil minister said. “So our focus on fundamen- tals and bringing supply and demand into balance, and bringing inventories down to what we consider a normal level, is unshaken. We are just going to continue driving down that policy line that we have adopted,” al-Falih said.