OPEC+ 6-Month Compliance With Vienna Deal Nears 100 Percent, Russia's Novak Says

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Monday that OPEC+ compliance with the Vienna oil output cut agreement stands at a level close to 100 percent, adding that the deal helped to remove more than 350 million barrels of oil supplies from the international market.

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — Major oil producing states have almost fully complied with an international deal on output cuts over six months, Novak said Monday.

"The countries showed an unprecedented high level of discipline and compliance, which over six months stands at a level close to 100 percent, and in some countries even more than 100 percent," Novak said.

The minister also said that the deal has kept 350 million barrels of oil from the market over six months.

"Collectively in the first half of the year, more than 350 million barrels of oil supplies have been removed from the market," he added.

Novak spoke at the Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), a panel tasked with tracking the implementation of the Vienna Agreement, in St. Petersburg.

In November 2016, the OPEC member states signed an agreement in the Austrian capital limiting oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day. On December 10, 11 non-OPEC countries decided to jointly cut oil output by 558,000 barrels per day for six months from January 2017. The agreement was due to expire in June, but was prolonged for an additional nine months on May 25.