|
"The
primary goal is to accelerate the stocks drawdown," Barkindo
said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"We are already seeing stocks coming down from the high levels.
Our eyes will continue to focus on the level of drawdown to
bring the level near a five-year industry average," he said.
"Stocks have already come down to below 3 billion barrels in
OECD commercial stocks. The delta now (with the five-year
average) is around 270 million," he said.
OPEC's latest monthly oil market report, issued on Wednesday,
said OECD commercial stocks stood at 2.993 billion barrels in
November.
Barkindo said the stocks drawdown would help rebalance the
market and establish the "equilibrium oil price" that will
encourage investments in the sector after two consecutive years
of capital expenditure cuts by state and private firms around
the world.
OPEC agreed to reduce output in tandem with non-OPEC Russia and
several other producers in December, in the first such move in
15 years. Barkindo said he believed Russia was playing a
long-term game with OPEC.
"I have no doubts in Russia's commitment to continue to
participate with us and solidify this platform effectively
establishing a stabilizing forum for the short, mid and
long-term," Barkindo said.
OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to establish a joint
ministerial monitoring committee and Barkindo said a meeting
this weekend in Vienna would adopt an oversight and compliance
mechanism.
OPEC will meet in May when it will decide whether to propose to
extend the output cutting measures together with non-OPEC
countries.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Susan Thomas)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
