Riyadh 'Rather Confident' About Oil Output Deal Extension Through 2017

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Falih expressed confidence that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member states and non-cartel oil-producing countries would prolong the agreement on the oil output reduction into the second half of 2017.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Khalid Falih made a statement after holding a meeting with the prime minister and minister of economy of Malaysia.

"Based on the conversations I have had with participating members, I am rather confident that the agreement will be extended into the second half of the year and possibly beyond and that includes consultations I had this morning with the prime minister and minister of economy of Malaysia," Falih said Monday in Kuala Lumpur as quoted by the Sun Daily newspaper.

Falih added that the oil producing states were willing to reach their goals on oil output reduction.

In late November, the OPEC signed an agreement on limiting oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day to 32.5 million barrels per day for the whole cartel. On December 10, 11 non-OPEC countries decided to jointly cut oil output by 558,000 barrels per day with Russia cutting the output by 300,000 barrels per day for six months starting from January 2017.

The Asia Oil and Gas Conference takes place every two years gathering over 2,000 delegates and visitors. The conference kicked off on Sunday in the Malaysian capital under the motto "New reality driving a new approach" and is focusing on such topics as economy, energy and geopolitics among other issues.