Non-OPEC Oman will attend the oil producers’ meeting with OPEC in Vienna on December 10, the energy minister of the Gulf sultanate said this week.
OPEC agreed last week to reduce output by around 1.2mn barrels per day (bpd) beginning in January in a bid to reduce global oversupply and prop up prices.
It hopes non-OPEC countries will contribute another 600,000 bpd to the cut. Russia has said it will reduce output by around 300,000 bpd.
Omani oil and gas minister Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy told reporters that non-OPEC producers’ current discussions to cut between 3% and 4% of their oil production, is less than what Oman was ready to reduce output by. He declined to comment on how much Oman is prepared to cut output, but Oman has previously said it would be willing to cut production by 5-10%.
“I have received an invitation to go to Vienna to attend the meeting on Saturday. We are going to listen to OPEC and see how much they want us to cut. But in principle we support it. Oman has come on record and has been saying for a long time that we need to cut production. We will cut if we are requested to cut and I think there will be a request from OPEC to cut,” al-Rumhy said, according to Muscat Daily.
“At the moment there is too much oil in the market … I still feel that cutting production is the only solution.”
Rumhy said he expected oil prices to rise to a range of $50-$60 a barrel in 2017 after the global oil limiting supply agreement.
Oman’s oil production is around 1mn bpd.
Rumhy, who is also the chairman of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the country’s top oil and gas exploration and production company, said PDO’s expected investments next year will be around $4bn.
“Recently, we were discussing the amount PDO plans to borrow next year. It will be almost the same as this year’s loan. Between $3-$5bn,” he said.
In June, PDO said it obtained a $4bn loan from international banks, part of a rush of foreign borrowing by Oman as low oil prices strain state finances.
The five-year pre-export facility was the company’s first international loan and was priced at 160 basis points over the London interbank offered rate (Libor).
