Oil producers seek production freeze at next Doha meeting

KUWAIT, April 5 (KUNA) -- There are indications that oil producing countries (both inside and outside OPEC) are poised to agree on a production freeze to levels of last January to stave off further decline of oil prices, Kuwait OPEC Governor Nawal Al-Fuzaia said on Tuesday.
This possible agreement should come out at the next OPEC meeting on April 17 in Doha, Qatar, said the Governor, noting that oil prices may see some stability in the second half of this year. She was making a press statement on the sideline of a forum on reasons for the slide in oil prices.
Basic projections for prices right up through 2019 is between USD 45-60 for Brent crude, she said stressing that all oil producing countries fundamentally agree to a production freeze except Iran which seeks to increase its production levels.
She mentioned in a speech at the forum that Kuwait exports 79 percent of its oil to south Asia, 10 percent to the US, 6 percent to Europe, and the rest to other world countries.
OPEC, she indicated, expects a rise in the demand for crude in 2016 by 1.2 million barrels more than in 2015.
Today's forum seeks to inform the public with a historical view of the gyrations in oil prices, said head of the Kuwaiti Oil Ministry's Oil Cultural Committee Sheikha Tamadhor Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, pointing out that in 2014 oil prices topped USD 100 a barrel, only to tumble down below USD 40 by the start of this year. (end) asg.ajs