Global oil markets to start tightening

The UAE Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Al Mazrouei said on Friday he hopes that global supplies will start tightening in the second half of the year when demand picks up.

"We have seen healthy demand and a flattening of rig counts in the United States," Mazrouei told reporters.

"This is the beginning of the third quarter and demand picks up in the third quarter and I hope the agreement will have a significant impact in the third and fourth quarter."

Brent crude oil prices remain just under the key $50 per barrel mark on concerns about high supplies from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) despite a pledge to cut output in a bid to tighten the market.

Opec, together with some non-members like Russia, has extended a deal to cut production by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to March 2018.

"The UAE is committed to its cut," Mazrouei said.

"We have seen some increase in production in some of the countries that were not part of the agreement because of their special stance."

Oil producers' meeting

Major oil producing states will discuss a global pact on reducing supplies, review market conditions and examine any proposals related to the deal at a meeting next week, Kuwait's oil minister said on Friday.

Several ministers from Opec and other non-Opec producers meet in the Russian city of St Petersburg on Monday.

Kuwait heads the joint ministerial committee of Opec and non-Opec states, known as JMMC, that monitors compliance with the pact to cut 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil. The cuts began in January 2017 and run to March 2018. Alongside Kuwait, the JMMC includes Venezuela, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Oman.

Source: Khaleej Times