The Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) will hold a meeting in St. Petersburg today to track the implementation of the Vienna deal on oil output cuts.
The event is set to give recommendations to the 24 major oil producers participating in the agreement for the first time.
Five member countries of the JMMC — Kuwait, Russia, Oman, Venezuela and Algeria — plus Saudi Arabia, this year's president of the OPEC Conference, will not only monitor the compliance of the OPEC and non-OPEC countries with crude output cuts, but will also give recommendations to the oil exporters for the first time since the committees' mandate was expanded in May. The expansion was announced after the 24 countries decided to extend their production adjustments, which originally started January 1, for a further period of nine months, beginning July 1.
Libya and Nigeria continue to recover their oil production at a steady pace, with both countries having upped their production by 127,000 and 96.700 barrels per day in June respectively, which amounted to 57% of OPEC’s total increase in crude oil output for that month. Despite that fact, neither country is expected to be present at the JMMC meeting to address this issue.
Another topic, which may be raised by the monitoring committee, is Ecuador's confession of being unable to fully meet production cuts promised to OPEC, which is 26,000 barrels of oil a day. Quito claims it needs to pump more oil to address its fiscal deficit. The country was the first oil exporter to publicly admit it, possibly interfering with the deal's unity and excellent levels of compliance.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in June that a global pact by OPEC, Russia and other producers to cut oil output had dampened price volatility and was reducing bloated inventories, so no immediate extra measures were needed to prop up prices.
The Russian energy minister also said any exit from the global pact at the end of the first quarter would be "smooth". Kazakhstan also stands for a soft exit from the deal with OPEC, according to the Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev.
OPEC and 10 non-cartel oil producers reached a deal in the Austrian capital of Vienna in 2016, agreeing to cut oil output by a total of 1.8 million barrels per day from October's level. Non-OPEC states, including Russia, promised to jointly reduce oil output by 558,000 barrels per day, with Russia pledging to cut production by 300,000 barrels daily.
