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Azerbaijan to negotiate extension of oil output cut agreement

Xinhua, May 15, 2017 Adjust font size:

Azerbaijan is ready to negotiate the extension of an agreement to cut oil output made by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC countries in 2016, Zamina Aliyeva, spokesperson for Azerbaijani energy ministry, told local media here on Monday.

The statement came ahead of OPEC's next official meeting on May 25 in Vienna. "The Azerbaijani delegation will discuss this issue in Vienna on May 25. Our position remains unchanged, and we consider it necessary to continue the steps that will help stabilize the global oil market," Aliyeva said.

According to Aliyeva, the proposals to extend the agreement through the second half of this year are ready for discussion. "But we must wait for the results of the Vienna meeting," she added.

OPEC agreed at a meeting in November 2016 to reduce oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day from the October levels.

One month later in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC oil-producing countries, including Azerbaijan, agreed to cut oil output by 558,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2017 with the possibility of extension, the largest contribution made by non-OPEC oil producers ever.

It was the first deal of those countries since 2001 to reduce oil output and ease a global glut, after more than two years of low prices that overstretched budgets of many countries and spurred unrest.

Azerbaijan has fulfilled its obligation to cut daily oil output by 35,000 barrels. The country's proven oil reserves amounted to 7 billion barrels at the end of 2015, according to British oil giant BP's Statistical Review of World Energy. Endit