LOC10:38
07:38 GMT
VIENNA, March 24 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait will be hosting on March 25th a meeting for the joint OPEC and non-OPEC members' ministerial committee tasked with monitoring the decision in late 2016 to reduce oil production.
The meeting will be headed by Kuwaiti Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Essam Al-Marzouq and will include the participation of ministers from OPEC members Kuwait, Algeria, and Venezuela in addition to non-OPEC countries Russia and Oman.
OPEC and other major producers pledged late last year to reduce output by 1.8 million barrels. Three months have passed since the decision took effect in mid-January.
OPEC's current production is at 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd). The decision was made to stable the global price.
Speaking on the issue, Kuwait's permanent delegate to the headquarters of international organizations in Vienna and its Ambassador to Austria Sadeq Marafi said that the one-day meeting will be crucial for OPEC and major states efforts to reduce the surplus in the global market.
Choosing Kuwait as the venue for the grand meeting was reflected of the global oil community's trust and confidence in the Gulf state, said Marafi who revealed that his country played an integral role in formulating the decision to cut down production last year.
Meanwhile, an OPEC source, preferring anonymity, said that a report -- issued in January by the committee monitoring the output reduction -- revealed that commitment within the organization was at 86 percent and there was still hope to bring the number to 100 percent.
On the upcoming meeting in Kuwait, the source affirmed that commitment reflected by the committee's member states was a positive sign, hoping that the outcome of the event will further bolster aims for a stable price at the global market.
According to energy experts, the committee's meeting in Kuwait will look into whether the decision to reduce production was effective in stabilizing the prices. The committee has the authority to call for urgent meetings whenever possible if the agreeing parties did not fulfill their output reduction quota.
OPEC's recent monthly report revealed that the organization's basket price had recorded an increase by 2 percent, reaching USD 53.37 per barrel in February. (end)
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