The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), consisting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC countries, recommended the cancellation of its extraordinary meeting scheduled for April 17-18, the organization said in a statement released Monday.
"In consideration that market fundamentals are unlikely to materially change in the next two months, the JMMC adopted a recommendation to forego the full Ministerial Meeting in April and instead schedule a JMMC meeting in May ahead of the OPEC Conference meeting on 25 June, during which a decision will be taken on the production target for the second half of 2019," the oil cartel said.
The next JMMC meeting is scheduled to take place in May in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
After the JMMC meeting on Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in consideration of geopolitical and macroeconomic reasons, it was found that a meeting in April would be premature in deciding on an extension to the oil production cut agreement.
The parties will discuss whether their daily 1.2 million barrels of oil production cuts will be extended into the second half of the year on June 25-26 in Vienna.
During a meeting in Vienna on Dec. 6-7 last year, OPEC and non-OPEC countries led by Russia agreed to extend the oil production cut agreement.
The committee also expanded the number of its members with the additions of Iraq, Kazakhstan and Nigeria.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr