Opec’s leadership is confident that the Opec+ production agreement that kicked into effect on 1 January is sufficient to bring the market back into balance relatively swiftly. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih says the imbalance is nowhere near as severe as when they agreed to cut in December 2016 and therefore “I just can’t see it taking a long time [to fix].”
Speaking at the Atlantic Council’s Global Economic Forum (GEF) in Abu Dhabi on 13 January, Mr Falih said that skepticism surrounding the commitment of Opec+ was unjustified. He pointed to the group’s success in the previous round of cuts, although ultimately those lasted three times longer than the initial six-month plan (MEES, 2 December 2016). (CONTINUED - 968 WORDS)
