LOC14:18
11:18 GMT
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouq and Kuwait's Ambassador to Austria Sadiq Marafi
VIENNA, Nov 30 (KUNA) -- OPEC oil ministers began their 173rd meeting on Thursday with intentions to continue the deal to cut production in an effort to boost the price of oil by 2018.
Yesterday, the meeting by the Kuwait-led Joint OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) reflected desires by major producers to continue the production cut in 2018.
The JMMC said that it would re-evaluate the production cut deal by next June.
In December 2016, OPEC and other major producers decided to lower production by 8.1 million barrels per day to counter the low global oil price.
The deal helped the oil price to climb up to USD 60 per barrel after it was barely USD 50 pb.
Economic experts say that deepening the production cut by 550,000 bpd will decrease global reserves by 153 million bpd in the first quarter of 2018.
However, even if the price reached between USD 60 to 70 pb, it is very important to factor in the American and Chinese intentions to upscale operations by next year. The increasing demand for oil will also have an impact on the market. (end)
amg.gta