Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo on Thursday expressed confidence that both OPEC and oil producers outside the cartel should comply with the 2016 output freeze deal, Sputnik reports.
"I remain confident, very optimistic, that the level of compliance to the declaration of cooperation agreed by the 24 participating countries will be very high," Barkindo said.
He stressed that the November and December deals in which OPEC, followed by other oil producers, agreed to cut production in an effort to stabilize the market defied skeptical pundits and cooperation is likely to continue.
Mohammed Barkindo also stated that considering an extension to the current six-month oil producer output cut is still premature as mechanisms of the deal are still being worked out.
"I think it would be premature at the moment because… the agreement in the first instance is for six months, beginning from January 1, so we are barely two weeks in the very beginning and the roadmap to the implementation is still work in progress," Barkindo said.
