LOC10:08
07:08 GMT
KUWAIT, May 16 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Essam Al-Marzouq on Tuesday affirmed full support of the joint position taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation on the extension of the agreement to cut oil production between OPEC and non-OPEC countries until March 2018.
The minister said in a statement issued by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) that this comes after the release of a joint Saudi-Russian statement yesterday, announcing the two countries' support of an additional nine-month extension of the historic Vienna agreement ending March 31, 2018.
He pointed out that this agreement aims to rebalance the global supply and demand by restoring the level of world oil reserve to the rate of the past five years.
He said that the Saudi-Russian statement pointed out that there was satisfaction on the part of the parties on the strength of global demand, in addition to the high commitment by most of the countries participating in the agreement, noting that there positive signs began to emerge through the April and May data, showing that there is a significant decline in the world oil reserve.
He explained, on the impact of this news, oil prices rose significantly during the first hours after the opening of trading yesterday on the London Stock Exchange, where Brent crude oil broke the barrier of USD 52 a barrel for the first time since about mid-last month. (end)
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