Doha to Host Oil Producers Meeting

Doha, March 16 (QNA) - HE the Minister of Energy and Industry and current President of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada Wednesday announced a meeting of OPEC and key non-OPEC producer countries will be held here on April 17. A statement released by the Ministry of Energy and Industry's Public Relations and Communications department today said, "This comes as a follow-up to the meeting that was held last month in Doha between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela at which they proposed an accord to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels and called on other producers to do so". To date, around 15 OPEC and non-OPEC producers, accounting for about 73% of Global Oil output, support this initiative. Qatar, as the President of OPEC, has been coordinating with OPEC and non-OPEC oil producer countries to gather more support for the Doha initiative to stabilize the market. The proposal is being increasingly supported by both OPEC and non-OPEC countries including Saudi Arabia and Russia, the statement said. HE the Minister of Energy and Industry said, "The continuous efforts of the Qatar Government, have been instrumental in promoting dialogue among all oil producers to support the Doha initiative, helping the stabilization of oil market to the interest of all." It is worth noting that, the earlier Doha meeting held February 16 changed the sentiment of the oil market and put a floor under the oil price. This has triggered a broad and intensive dialogue between all oil producers out of the conviction that current oil prices are not sustainable. This is evident by the unprecedented drop in investment in the oil industry, which has indeed started to impact oil production worldwide, showing a decline that seems likely to continue. This drastic reduction in investment is already taking its toll on the oil industry, the statement said. (QNA)