OPEC, allies meet to hash out Mexico, individual cuts

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - OPEC and its allies met late Sunday for the second time in four days to discuss the dynamics of the global oil market, and how much each of 23 oil-producing countries will cut their individual oil production.

"10th (Extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting starts under the chairmanship of Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, co-Chair Alexander Novak, Russia’s Minister of Energy," OPEC said on its Twitter account.

Led by Saudi Arabia, 13 members of OPEC and 10 Russian-led oil-producing countries outside the bloc met late Thursday to discuss coronavirus-related weak global oil demand and low prices.

The group, dubbed OPEC+, agreed early Friday to lower their total crude oil production level by 10 million barrels per day (bpd) from May 1 to June 30.

However, Mexico said it could only curb its oil output by 100,000 bpd, instead of 400,000 bpd due to financial issues of its national oil company Pemex.

The U.S., the world's largest crude oil producer, is in talks with Mexico to share some of the burden in output cuts, according to local reports.

The OPEC+ group is expected to solve Mexico's issues before Asian oil markets open early Monday to prevent another major plummet in crude prices.

The group is also set to decide how much each of the 23 oil-producing nations will lower their oil production levels.