Riyadh – Mubasher: OPEC is ready to act on the market’s needs, while supply shortage is not certain, as the US stockpiles rose, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih stated on Saturday.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that crude oil inventories climbed by 5.4 million barrels to 470 million barrels in the week ended 10 May.
Al-Falih said that OPEC would not establish its position on the output before its meeting in June.
“We will be flexible. We are going to do the right thing as we always do,” Reuters reported, citing al-Falih as saying.
In January, members of OPEC and some allies agreed to reduce oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for six months to contain prices.
Global oil output, however, was reduced further than the set quota due to the decline in Libyan, Venezuelan, and Iranian output, which resulted from the political unrest and the US sanctions against Caracas and Tehran.
