TheCable

Issam Almarzooq, Kuwait’s oil minister, says Nigeria and Libya may be asked to join the oil production cut agreed on by member and non-member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Almarzooq told journalists on the sidelines of an energy conference in Istanbul, Turkey, that OPEC and non-OPEC producers have invited both countries to a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia on July 24.

He said the stability of their production would be discussed at the meeting.

Almarzooq is chairman of the committee monitoring the compliance of OPEC and non-OPEC suppliers with output cuts that started in January and have been extended to March 2018.

“We invited them to discuss the situation of their production. If they are able to stabilise their production at current levels, we will ask them to cap as soon as possible. We don’t need to wait until the November meeting to do that,” he said, referring to the upcoming OPEC meeting scheduled for November 30.

In an interview on May 25, Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, had said that Nigeria was not averse to joining the output cuts if production can reach the 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) threshold.

Libya and Nigeria had been exempted from the oil production cuts agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC producers to solve the problem of oversupply in the market.

Libya’s crude oil output has surged to over 1m bpd, up from 400,000 in October while Nigeria’s output has risen to 1.6million bpd, up 200,000 since October following the restart of loading at Forcadoes terminal.

Speaking on the matter, Muhammad Barkindo, OPEC’s secretary general, told journalists that Nigeria and Libya would have to make a collective effort as the decision to exempt them was a joint decision.

“The OPEC/non-OPEC ministerial monitoring committee will discuss the impact of the output curbs on the market at the July 24 meeting. Deepening the reductions under the current agreement is not on the agenda,” Almarzooq said.

“It is too early to discuss deeper output cuts by OPEC/non-OPEC producers participating in the agreement to curb production. We just finished the meeting in May and we need to give it more time.”

However, it is not clear if Nigeria would be allowed to get back production up to 2 million bpd before the cap is implemented.