OPEC+ prepare continuity strategy

Participants in the OPEC+ oil production limiting agreement are working on the continuity strategy instead of preparing the strategy for exit from the deal expiring in March 2018, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said on the sidelines of the 22nd World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.

"On May 25 we extended the agreement for nine months. Now we are already looking beyond the line of nine months. We are looking at the continuity strategy, not at the exit strategy. Cooperation between agreement participants "goes beyond supply and adjustment. This is cooperation we are trying to institutionalize," TASS cited Barkindo as saying.

This is not related to extension of oil production limiting activities after expiry of the oil production limiting deal, the OPEC Secretary General said, adding that there are other elements" in cooperation among agreement participants.

"We are looking beyond the market rebalancing," Barkindo added.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached the deal to curtail oil output jointly on December 10, 2016.]

A leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Igor Yushkov, speaking to a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, said that first of all Muhammad Barkindo's statement is an attempt to influence the oil market.

According to the expert, for Russia it will now be profitable to declare that the proposal to create OPEC + is accepted for consideration. "Everything which allows oil prices to rise, but does not force us to reduce oil exports in large volumes is beneficial for Russia. "OPEC+ itself does not affect prices. They would have had to cut production volumes very much - but no one will agree on it, because there will be no gain from such a reduction, even with an increase in oil prices," Igor Yushkov pointed out.

As for the possible program of cooperation in the framework of OPEC +, it will repeat the work of OPEC with additional incentives for participants. "First of all, it is a question of quoting oil production volumes and allocating quotas to each country that produces oil on a regular basis. Regular meetings and summits will be held," Igor Yushkov concluded.