Compliance to OPEC output deal at 125% in Dec: Kuwaiti minister

The commitment level to the output deal between Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and external major producers stood at 125 percent in December, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Bakheet Al-Rashidi said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint press conference with OPEC secretary general Mohammad Barkindo, Al-Rashidi said the group does not have any plan or intention to exit the production deal, state news agency KUNA reported.

A ministerial committee of OPEC and non-OPEC participants in the agreement is scheduled to meet in Oman on January 21 to assess compliance and chart future action.

The output-cut deal was signed in 2016 in a bid to help rebalance global oil markets. Crude prices have since risen to a nearly three-year high of $70 per barrel.

Meanwhile, Barkindo told KUNA that the decline in the size of investments in the oil industry over the past few years threatens future supply.

The OPEC secretary general expects oil markets to return to balance in 2018, reaching prices that “will be fair to both consumers and producers.”

He also approved of the participants’ commitment towards the deal in 2017, adding that there is no reason to doubt that the compliance levels will be maintained this year.