Algeria seeks deal with oil producers to stabilize market, raise prices

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Monday 15 Feb 2016 - 13:52 Makkah mean time-6-5-1437 Algiers (IINA) – Algerian Energy Minister Salah Khebri said Sunday that the talks with oil producing countries are ongoing in a bid to find an agreement which would allow stabilizing the oil market and raising crude prices, Algeria Press Service (APS) reported. The minister said that these talks, which have started since 2014, are still underway to "reach a consensus among the producing countries to cut their production." "Contacts are underway to stabilize the market, characterized by oversupply and a poor demand, and the absence of economic recovery," he said, stressing that "steps have been launched since the market downturn in 2014". "The fact that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has not decided to cut the output in November 2014 resulted in continuous fall of prices," Khebri added. Those discussions aim at conciliating the concerned countries’ views for bringing them to cut their production. In addition to the OPEC member countries, they concern the big producing countries which are not members of OPEC like Russia, the minister stressed. "OPEC is losing ground; its shares decreased from 44 percent during the 1990s to 31 percent now, hence the importance for the non-OPEC big producing countries to adhere to this production cut approach," the Algerian minister underlined. He added that the discussions are deadlocked because of non-participation of these non-OPEC producers in this approach. AB/IINA