Egypt participates in OPEC meeting

CAIRO – 30 November 2017: The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla headed to Vienna to participate in the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a Thursday statement from the ministry said.

Based on OPEC’s ministerial meeting number 173, Egypt participates as a non-OPEC producer.

“Egypt will monitor the international oil markets and what OPEC meetings will result in,” Molla said, noting that he will meet with foreign and Arab oil ministers on the sidelines of the meeting.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started its meeting Thursday at the headquarters in the Austrian capital, in the presence of ministers from oil producing countries, most importantly Russia.

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Khalid A. al-Falih told international media that OPEC will agree to cut production by nine months, noting that ease shall come when the market is healthier.

While there has not been an official statement, OPEC and Russia seem ready to prolong their oil supply cuts until the end of 2018. The cuts were put in place last January and are set to expire in March 2018.

One of OPEC’s biggest problems while cutting supplies was the rise in the U.S. output, which is gaining global market share and undermining the producer club’s efforts to tighten the market.