OPEC Urges Producers to Avoid Surplus

OPEC’s secretariat urged oil producers to keep going with efforts to prevent a surplus this year as supplies from their rivals increase faster than world demand.
Key OPEC members and their allies will meet this weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan, to review output curbs they have been implementing to avert a supply glut and defend oil prices, Bloomberg reported. 
Their agreement is due to expire at the middle of the year. In its monthly report, OPEC’s Vienna-based secretariat encouraged them to continue the strategy.
“While oil demand is expected to grow at a moderate pace in 2019, it is still well below the strong growth expected in the non-OPEC supply forecast for this year,” it said.
“This highlights the continued shared responsibility of all participating producing countries to avoid a relapse of the imbalance and continue to support oil-market stability in 2019.”
A rally in oil prices during the first six weeks of the year has slowed on concerns that record US shale production, a slowing global economy and the prolonged US-China trade dispute could lead to a pile-up of unwanted crude. 
Brent futures traded below $68 a barrel in London on Thursday.
After the review meeting on March 17 and 18, ministers from the so-called OPEC+ alliance will gather in Vienna next month, and again in June, to decide on output policy for the second half of the year. The coalition spans 24 nations, including OPEC members as well as other producers such as Russia and Kazakhstan.