Kuwait says OPEC could meet in March on extending oil cut pact

Kuwait’s Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Wednesday that OPEC could hold an extraordinary meeting in mid-March if oil producers did not reach a decision to extend their supply cut pact when it next meets in November.

“In the coming November meeting, we may not reach a decision to extend… the agreement and we could hold an extraordinary meeting in mid-March for this matter,” Marzouq said at a joint news conference with his Venezuelan counterpart in Kuwait City.

OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until March 2018 in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.

An extension of at least three months is being discussed among oil producers before OPEC meets again in November.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said that “all options are open” regarding the global cuts agreement.

“I have discussed with the Saudi and Kuwait oil ministers (ideas) other than extending the agreement and we are open on all the options,” Del Pino said.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih and his Venezuelan and Kazakh counterparts have discussed a possible extension of the pact, the Saudi energy ministry said on Sunday.

Marzouq said that the joint OPEC, non-OPEC ministerial committee, known as the JMMC and headed by Kuwait, has not yet been asked to study whether to extend the pact or not.

The JMMC will meet on Sept. 22 in Vienna and will urge oil producers participating in the agreement for full compliance with it, Marzouq said.

Del Pino also said his country would price its crude oil sales in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, giving the Chinese yuan and Indian rupee as examples.

Several oil producing nations have repeatedly pledged to switch away from the U.S. dollar for crude sales including Russia and Iran. Most attempts have been rebuffed by the global oil trading community which prefers to trade in dollars.

Del Pino will travel to Tehran on Wednesday to meet with his Iranian counterpart, he said.