Saudi Oil Minister: No 'Free Rides' for Non-OPEC Producers
Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday that oil market fundamentals are improving as an agreement to curb supply by OPEC and non-OPEC producers took effect.
But he said the group would not let rival producers take advantage of the cuts to underwrite their own production investments.
Saudi Arabia had cut beyond what it had pledged in the agreement and brought the kingdom's output below 10 million barrels per day, he said.
"We should not get ahead of the market," Falih told a group of oil industry executives at the CERAWeek energy conference.
He said Saudi Arabia does not want OPEC to intervene in the oil market to address long-term structural shifts, but would support measures to address "short-term aberrations."
The production-reduction pact, which was joined by non-OPEC countries including Russia and Kazakhstan, was intended to reduce global output by about 1.8 million barrels per day, and bring supplies closer to demand. The six-month agreement originally took effect on Jan. 1.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams)
