KUWAIT CITY (Web Desk) – The Kuwaiti and Iraqi oil ministers said on Tuesday that OPEC cannot cut oil production alone while others are increasing.
While talking to the media on the sidelines of an oil conference, Kuwait’s acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh and Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdulmahdi said that OPEC can’t cut production unless producers outside the cartel do the same, despite the plunge in crude prices.
Anas al-Saleh “OPEC cannot cut its production unless there is a similar reduction by producers outside OPEC,” Kuwait’s acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh said.
“I don’t see any logic in OPEC cutting production while non-OPEC (countries) don’t cut,” he further said.
Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdulmahdi said his country was “ready to cooperate” on cutting production to raise oil prices but only if non-OPEC producers did as well.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has refused to cut production despite a drop in oil prices to 13-year lows.
Led by Gulf producers, the cartel is refusing to reduce crude output as it seeks to drive less-competitive players, including US shale producers, out of the market.
Crude fell back below $30 a barrel in Asia on Tuesday as worries about the global supply glut returned to the fore, following a two-day rebound.
