By Abdelwaheb El-Gueyed
VIENNA, Dec 10 (KUNA) -- Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid A. Al-Falih, on Saturday lauded as historic the decision of the non-OPEC countries to cut their oil output by 558,000 barrels per day (bpd) as of January.
Al-Falih attributed the decision to "the positive and objective consensus" among the OPEC and the non-OPEC countries on put their interests above any other considerations.
He made the comments in an interview with KUNA following the OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, co-chaired by Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada - President of the OPEC Conference and Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, and Alexander Novak - Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
Al-Falih, who will take over the presidency of OPEC early next year, said the decision of the non-OPEC countries, besides the decision of OPEC countries on November 30 to cut their output by 1.2 million bpd to 32.5 million bpd as of January 1, will open an new chapter in the history of the organization.
He expressed hope that the world oil market will be more balanced in 2017, pledging to make the implementation of the recently reached agreements his top priority when he assumes the OPEC presidency. The OPEC has received assurances from the non-OPEC oil exporters to cut their output by 600,000 bpd. (pickup previous) amg.gb