By Abulwahab Al-Ghayed
VIENNA, Jan 22 (KUNA) -- Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa on Sunday praised the State of Kuwait's key role in hammering out the "historic" accord among the crude oil producers to slash the oil output by 1.485 million barrels per day effective early January.
The Algerian minister was speaking to KUNA ahead of a scheduled meeting of the OPEC Kuwait-chaired panel charged with monitoring the output cut.
Kuwait had been chosen by unanimity during the recent meeting in Vienna to head the commission in appreciation of its paramount role in establishing the organization for sake of ensuring the oil market stability, in addition to its ability to coordinate with OPEC and non-OPEC producers, he said.
The State of Kuwait was among founders of OPEC, established in 1960.
Minister Boutarfa confirmed that the commission meeting had been scheduled to adopt a mechanism of monitoring the producers' adherence to the output slash accord.
The monitoring panel will receive, regularly, reports by the accord signatory states about their crude output, he said, expressing hope that the oil price will increase to the USD 55-60 per barrel level. However, he hinted that this would largely depend on the market status and balance.
OPEC hosted, on December 10th, a ministerial meeting grouping OPEC and non-OPEC states including Russia. The conferees agreed on cutting the crude output. (end) amq.rk