Opec and non-member states led by Russia indicated that their agreement to cut world output by 1.8 million barrels per day could be extended beyond March 2018 Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersAn Opec-backed deal to curb global oil production is working, ministers from the club of 14 exporter nations claimed yesterday. Officials from the oil producers’ cartel and other non-member states led by Russia said that they were gradually eliminating a yawning supply glut that has kept crude prices depressed for more than three years. At a meeting in Vienna yesterday, they indicated that their agreement to cut world output by 1.8 million barrels per day could be extended beyond its present expiry date of March 2018. The deal was implemented in January. Mohammed Barkindo, Opec’s secretary-general, claimed that swollen global stockpiles of fuel had been “massively drained” in recent months, thanks to high levels of compliance with the agreement by a total of 25 countries.

Source: The Times September 22, 2017 16:07 UTC