Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the global oil market is still in the recovery phase amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and that he expected a long road ahead, the minister told Al Arabiya in an exclusive interview.
“The agreement to reduce oil production may be extended to more than two years,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said.
“We still have a long way to go and actions will continue. Therefore, part of the recovery and coexisting with this situation until, God willing, this epidemic is gone, is that we decided to have a monthly meeting with the committee that monitors the market, to make sure of the obligations, and to make recommendations to the OPEC+ conference,” Prince Abdulaziz added.
The Saudi Arabian Energy Minister’s comments to Al Arabiya comes a day after OPEC+ allies led by Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Wednesday to ease record oil supply curbs from August as the global economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic but said a second wave of the virus could complicate rebalancing in the market.
Prince Abdulaziz, however, told Al Arabiya that consensus over long-term measures must be maintained as global oil producers adjust amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“There is a consensus that we are in a state of readiness to take any additional measures that may require us to coexist and deal with the issue of coronavirus and the changes it may bring in prices within the energy markets in general, and the economy more generally and broadly,” he said.
