Venezuela Redirects Exports Above 1Mln Bpd From US to Asia - Saudi Minister

BAKU (Sputnik) – Venezuela managed to redirect exports from the United States to Asia, and hence to keep production exports above 1 million barrels per day, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said Sunday.
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"We have been observing a reduction in exports in Iran and Venezuela… Venezuela has managed, from the data I have seen, to keep production exports above a million barrels a day. There’s a redirection of some of their exports, some of those barrels are going to Asia versus the US West Coast. The market remains supplied with Venezuelan barrels," al-Falih said.

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Commenting on the oversupply, he said that this situation will remain for a long time "and forecast to be long for the rest of the year as I see it." 

Khalid al-Falih also urged participants of the OPEC-non-OPEC oil output cut deal to "stay on course" of complying with the recently-agreed commitments.

"My assessment is that job still remains ahead of us, we are nowhere near complete in terms of restoring fundamentals, we are still seeing inventory builds in OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], certainly the US remains significantly above normal levels," Falih said at a press conference after the meeting of the Joint Technical Committee.

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The Saudi minister added that there was a need "to stay on course certainly until June, but we remain to continue monitoring supply and demand and do what's necessary to keep the markets balanced." 

His remarks come after on 7 December, participants of the OPEC-non-OPEC oil output cut deal agreed to reduce overall production by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months starting from 2019.

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