Opec has no choice but to keep output target, says Kuwait

A general view of the Opec building and logo in Vienna. Opec, which supplies about 40% of the world’s crude, pumped 30.6mn bpd in February, exceeding its target of 30mn for a ninth-consecutive month, according to Bloomberg data.Bloomberg/Kuwait CityOpec has no plans for an extraordinary meeting to discuss ways to shore up oil prices and doesn’t have a choice but to keep its crude production unchanged to maintain market share, Kuwait Oil Minister Ali al-Omair said.If other producers want to cut supply, “we will be very happy,” al-Omair said in Kuwait City. No “serious” requests have come from Opec members to hold early talks so “accordingly the next meeting will be in June,” he said.Opec producer Algeria is seeking to co-ordinate a global response from outside the group to tumbling prices, Algeria Press Service reported on Tuesday, citing Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi. Crude has lost half its value since June as US producers pumped oil at the fastest pace since 1983 and Opec decided on November 27 to maintain output. Oil prices stand to rebound by the end of 2015 on signs of economic growth, al-Omair said.“Undoubtedly what we agreed on in November 2014 still stands,” al-Omair said. “We are looking for several factors to come into play that could determine the level of prices including the production levels of non-Opec countries and rates of demand.”Opec, which supplies about 40% of the world’s crude, pumped 30.6mn bpd in February, exceeding its target of 30mn barrels for a ninth-consecutive month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.Non-Opec supply has grown by 6mn bpd since 2008 while production by members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has remained at about 30mn barrels, Opec secretary-general Abdalla El-Badri said at a conference in Manama on March 9.Algeria’s oil minister met with his Angolan counterpart and Nigeria’s ambassador to Algiers to discuss an initiative by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to increase dialogue between oil exporters, members and non-members of Opec, and to restore balance to the oil market.As part of Bouteflika’s initiative, messages have been sent since last month to Saudi Arabia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, Colombia, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Congo and Equatorial Guinea, APS said. Bouteflika earlier on Monday discussed the oil price decline with Borge Brende, the foreign minister of non-Opec producer Norway, APS said.“Saudi Arabia has relinquished its role in the market and it’s up to Russia and other non-Opec producers to show us what they will do to stabilise the prices,” Kamel al-Harami, an independent Kuwaiti analyst, said yesterday by phone. “Opec will not cut unless it sees a cut from Russia.”The oil-price decline won’t affect Kuwaiti investment plans to boost crude output capacity to 4mn bpd from 3.2mn bpd, Hashem Hashem, chief executive officer of state-run Kuwait Oil Co, said at the same conference.Kuwait is in a “critical situation” because crude oil accounts for 94% of the Gulf nation’s revenue, al-Omair said at the time.Al-Omair met with Russia’s Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka in Kuwait City, and signed a protocol to boost co-operation in oil investment and technology.