The surplus of oil stocks has fallen significantly over the past year to 74 million barrels over the five-year average in January, including the OPEC-led cut-off agreement,” said AA�dh Qahtani, Head of Research at OPEC.
“Oil inventories in the OECD countries, which were 340 million barrels above the five-year average in January 2017, fell to 74 million barrels last month,” Al-Qahtani told an industry conference.
OPEC is cutting production by 1.2 million bpd under an agreement with Russia and other independent producers, and the deal, which began a year ago until the end of 2018, is in place.
OPEC aims to cut stocks to an average of five years, but Saudi Arabia has hinted that the target could be adjusted.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency