OPEC advised to lower oil output by 500,000 barrels

By Ovunc Kutlu, Emre Gurkan Abay

VIENNA (AA) - OPEC was advised to lower its oil production level by an additional 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday.

"Global oil demand is on the decline due to the winter season," Novak told reporters in Vienna after leaving a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Conference (JMMC).

"That's why JMMC advised OPEC to lower its oil production by an additional 500,000 bpd in the first quarter of 2020," he said.

Formed in December 2016, the JMMC has been responsible for monitoring OPEC and non-OPEC's oil production and adherence to output quotas.

Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia-led non-OPEC oil producing countries had agreed last December to lower their collective output level by 1.2 million bpd, and later extended it until the end of March 2020 to support crude prices.

Novak said details of the production cut agreement, and the possibility of extending it, will be discussed at OPEC's meeting in March.

"Until that meeting, we can clearly understand the situation in the market," he said. "There can be changes to the deal accordingly."

The 10-member non-OPEC will convene Friday in Vienna to discuss how much support it can provide to the 14-member OPEC if further cuts to oil production are made.