OPEC Oil Output Freeze Compliance May Be Checked Via Shipping Logs

Kuwait‘s Oil Minister Essam Abdulmohsen Marzouq proposed to monitor the implementation of the deal to reduce oil output signed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC countries through checking participants' oil shipping records, according to official statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kuwait proposed to monitor the implementation of the deal to reduce oil output signed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC countries through checking participants' oil shipping records, the country's Ministry of Oil said Wednesday in a statement.

According to the statement, Kuwait‘s Oil Minister Essam Abdulmohsen Marzouq proposed this measure at a meeting with OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo, and expressed hope that the positive consequences of the agreement would be seen within two months.

Kuwait and Russia co-chair the monitoring committee which will hold a meeting on January 21-22 to establish the mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the oil output cap agreement.

In November 2016, OPEC agreed to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day to 32.5 million barrels per day for the whole cartel starting 2017. On December 10, OPEC finished a meeting with non-OPEC countries in Vienna, at which non-OPEC countries decided to cut oil output by 558,000 barrels per day, with Russia cutting the output by 300,000 barrels per day from January 2017.