A press conference on the outcomes of the 13th meeting of OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee was held |Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan

A press conference on the outcomes of the 13^th meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee was held in Baku with the participation of 14 oil countries and OPEC Secretariat. The Minister of Eenergy Parviz Shahbazov stated that both OPEC events held in Baku on the 17^th and 18^th of March were successfully completed. As an active member of OPEC+, Azerbaijan has contributed to maintain the balance in the oil market and will continue to support this agreement in the future.

Answering the question on the fulfillment of obligations, the Minister mentioned that over the last two years, Azerbaijan completely fulfilled its obligations under the OPEC+ agreement.

“In December, 2018, Azerbaijan took on new obligations. During the first half of this year, Azerbaijan will fully fulfill its obligations. The results will be even better next month.”

The Minister of Energy, İndustry and Natural Resources of Saudi Arabia, Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Falih emphasized that Azerbaijan was a role model for the other participating countries of OPEC+ agreement in terms of oil production cut. The minister stated that this was not only about the amount but also about the active participation of Azerbaijan. “I am confident that Azerbaijan will always be one of the leaders of the agreement after the approval of OPEC+ Charter. We are always happy to support new participants and we hope that Azerbaijan will help us to attract new countries.”

The minister stated that the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries (OPEC +) fulfilled 90% of the agreement on oil production cut in February. All the countries participating in the event declared to the Committee both collectively and individually that they would voluntarily reduce oil production in the coming months. According to the minister, commercial oil resources in the market are growing, thus the stockpile reduction will take several months.

At the press conference, it was noted that the next meeting of the Joint Monitoring Committee would be held in Jeddah in May, 2019. Four countries - Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and United Arab Emirates have been elected as new members of the Joint Monitoring Committee.