Saudi raps oil producers over flouting of output cuts

Abu Dhabi, Sept 12 (AFP/APP):OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia urged oil producers on Thursday to comply with output cuts decided last year in a bid to stabilise a slumping oil market and support prices.

“Every country should live up to its commitments,” new Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said as a committee of producers charged with monitoring the cuts and assessing the oil market opened talks.

Riyadh has been shouldering the burden of existing production cuts, but other nations — notably Nigeria and Iraq — are accused of exceeding their quotas.

Prince Abdulaziz told the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting in Abu Dhabi that it was imperative to restore stability in the oil market where prices have slumped to below $60 a barrel.

The 24-member OPEC and non-OPEC alliance decided last year to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January 2019, to boost prices after they fell by more than 40 percent.
The cuts were extended by nine months until the end of March but that move failed to invigorate the market.