Against the backdrop of statements by the oil-producing countries that the agreement on the reduction of production will be extended for another period, a clear statement was made by Iraq, which asked to be excluded from the agreement. A month before the OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna, the unity of the oil-producing countries may end.

The reason, which the head of the national alliance of Iraq, Ammar al-Hakim called, consisted in the fact that the country needs funds for combating terrorism, in particular, with the banned in Russia IG. "In the presence of such difficult circumstances, Iraq has the right to hope that other OPEC countries will make an exception for it, and the country will have the opportunity to increase production," RNS quotes him. At the same time, the Iraqi representative expressed support for the decision to reduce oil production for the sake of raising prices.

The agreement reached at the end of last year to reduce oil production is carried out not only by the countries of the oil cartel, but also by non-member states. This made it possible to achieve that world oil prices exceeded $ 50 per barrel. However, not all countries were committed to implementing the agreement. In particular, in February of this year, Saudi Arabia increased daily production to 10 million barrels compared to 9.7 million barrels in January, the British Air Force.

At the conference in Abu Dhabi, the Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid al-Falikh, expressed the opinion that OPEC countries will have to extend the period of oil production reduction in order to reduce the size of world reserves, but stressed that the consensus between its participants is Not achieved. "There is a preliminary agreement, but not with all states, on the continuation of the agreement on the reduction of oil production," the Prime Minister quotes the Prime Minister..

Surprise about compliance with the agreement was expressed by Kuwait's oil minister Issam al-Mazruk. Speaking in the capital of the UAE, he especially stressed that he is adhered to by countries that are not members of the OPEC. Therefore, the request of Iraq to exclude it from the deal may lead to the fact that other states will declare such a.

And then the agreement underlying the current stability in the oil market can order a long life.

The agreement reached in November last year at the OPEC summit in Vienna provided that the countries of the cartel would cut the daily production by 1.2 million barrels, to 32.5 million barrels. Some time later, non-OPEC countries adopted a similar decision to cut production by 558 barrels. Thus, the total decline in production should reach 1.758 million barrels per day.

Russia accounted for 300 thousand. Barrels. Judging by the statement of the Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, our country fulfills its obligations and will reach the target level by the end of April.

The issue of extending the agreement for the second half of 2017 will be decided at the OPEC summit in Vienna on May 25. But on the eve of the meeting, the ministerial committee for monitoring oil production. From its assessment, and will depend on whether it will be possible to maintain the unity of the oil-producing countries, which maintains stable prices for black fuel in the world market.

However, the chances that the agreement will be extended are quite high. According to the agency "Prime", in favor of its extension, countries that are members of the Council of Cooperation of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf (GCC), who have great influence in the oil cartel.