By: Ramy Sameh

Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid Al-Falih, said that OPEC’s agreement is unlikely to be extended after the six-month period.

Al-Falih told reporters during an energy event in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi that producers will assess the situation and the deal might be extended according to the necessity.

The minister expected that the re-balancing of the oil market will take place by the end of the first half of 2017, while demand is likely to increase in the next summer.

Earlier, Al-Falih expected that oil market would rebalance, backed by the OPEC’s latest deal.

On 30 November, OPEC agreed to cut its own production by 1.2 million barrels daily as of January 2017, to reduce supply glut.

Moreover, non-OPEC producers agreed on decreasing output by 558,000 bpd on 10 December.

Translated by: Sara Ghali