Oman Wants OPEC+ Deal Extension Until 2020 End With US Presidential Vote In Mind- Minister

MALABO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2019) Oman favors extending the OPEC+ oil production cuts deal until the end of 2020, as the US presidential election, scheduled for November 2020, may lead to uncertainty in the global oil demand, Oil Minister Mohammed Rumhi has said ahead of the upcoming OPEC and OPEC+ meetings, during which the fate of the deal will be discussed.

The agreement expires in March 2020.

"We support extension at least until the end of 2020 ... I think we should do it until December 2020, because I don't see anything changing in [the] next nine months," Rumhi told reporters.

In December 2020, after the United States holds its presidential vote, the oil demand situation will be more clear, and it will be easier to make a better decision, the minister explained.

"The good thing about December is that there is an election in November [in] the US. And the policy of the US in terms of trade, [relations] with China, the whole this effects [affects] the oil demand ... We would know by November whether there is a new administration with the new policy, or continuation of the same administration with the same policy. And then I think OPEC+ can make a better decision by December," Rumhi said.

When asked whether low demand, typical for the winter period, could in this case become a matter of dispute, Rumhi said he was not against a longer extension anyway.