Saudi Arabia on Friday led an agreement with Russia and other oil producing countries called OPEC +, which decided to increase production cuts in the first quarter of 2020.
Prince Abdulaziz, who was interviewed by Reuters for the first time since becoming Saudi energy minister in September, expects OPEC + oil producing countries to continue to cooperate after March next year.
As for the supply level of the market at that time, he said: "the supply level in March has not been determined."
He said that while all oil producing countries wanted to increase production, Saudi Arabia would only do so if it saw a decline in global inventories. He added that Saudi Arabia would like to see inventories within the range of the past five years and the 2010-2014 average.
OPEC + oil producers agreed Friday to cut production until March, although some observers expect the cuts to continue into June or even December. Russia is opposed to a longer-term agreement on production cuts, which some analysts interpret as a sign that Russia may want to exit soon.
Prince Abdulaziz said otherwise, cooperation with Russia will continue. He said OPEC + producers just want to be more flexible in terms of production adjustment and responding to market demand.
He also stressed the need for oil producing countries such as Iran and Nigeria to strengthen the implementation of their production reduction commitments.
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