Energy ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC countries meeting in Vienna on Sunday have struck a positive note regarding their agreement to cut oil output as a committee set to monitor compliance with the deal meets for the first time.

“I am satisfied, I am optimistic and, as I said, the markets are on their way to rebalance and it’s happening,” Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said.

Compliance with the agreement, which calls for cuts to begin this month, had been “fantastic”, he said.

Kuwaiti oil minister Essam al-Marzouq, who chairs the five-member compliance committee, said it would examine how to best monitor compliance and what level of compliance would be acceptable.

The other members of the committee represent Algeria, Venezuela, Russia and Oman.

Producers also agreed to form a technical committee to assist the five-member monitoring committee.

Next meet after March 17 in Kuwait

A committee set up to monitor oil output cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC producers will meet next after March 17 in Kuwait, Al-Marzouq told reporters following the committee’s first meeting in Vienna on Sunday.

A third meeting of the monitoring committee will be held ahead of OPEC’s May meeting, Al-Marzouq said.
 

A deal reached on December 10 between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers marked the first such pact since 2001.

Under it, producers will lower output by nearly 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) aiming to ease a global glut that has weighed on oil prices for more than two years.

“Usually non-OPEC would raise their production to compensate for voluntary cuts by OPEC. Now, we are seeing voluntary cuts by both sides,” Falih said.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Sunday also said he was satisfied with the level of compliance shown.

Russia has cut its oil output by around 100,000 bpd, Novak told Russia’s TASS news agency. Novak added Russian oil production has averaged around 11.15 million bpd this month.

(Source: Reuters)