US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said that the US sees no sense in keeping oil output at the level of January 2016. However, the issue is being actively discussed by the world’s largest oil exporters.
Moniz also added that the US authorities have neither legal tools nor intention to consider production cap together with the OPEC members.
On February 24th, the idea to stop production of oil for some time was sharply criticized in the US State Department. US State Department Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein said that the market will stabilize without intervention.
On February 23rd, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said that the freeze plan does not mean output reduction. Also that day, Iran made several controversial announcements and did not agree to control its oil production. Amid the situation, oil prices slumped by more than 6% to 32 US dollars a barrel.
On February 16th, Russia and several OPEC members, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Venezuela agreed to halt oil output in order to support oil prices. Since mid-2014, oil prices have nosedived by 70%. Iraq and Kuwait also supported the idea. Later, on February 20th, Nigeria declared its readiness to keep oil production at the January level.
