JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Saturday that OPEC will be responsive to the oil market's needs, but that he was not sure there is an oil shortage with data, particularly from the United States, still showing inventories building.
"We will be flexible. We are going to do the right thing as we always do," Falih said of any decision at the meeting in June on continuing the reductions. OPEC's agreed share of the cuts is 800,000 bpd, but its actual reduction is far larger due to the production losses in Iran and Venezuela. Both are under U.S. sanctions and exempt from the voluntary reductions under the OPEC-led deal.U.S. President Donald Trump has called on OPEC and the group's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and asked them to lower oil prices. Riyadh, however, is reluctant to boost supply quickly and risk a price crash.
Oil contamination also forced Russia to halt flows along the Druzhba pipeline - a key conduit for crude into Eastern Europe and Germany - in April. The suspension, as yet of unclear duration, left refiners scrambling to find supplies.