the risk of oil prices heading well above $70/b to the oil market and the global economy, while also saying that if prices were too low it would hit investment in the industry and key oil producing countries.

"Cooperation will continue between Russia and Saudi Arabia," Ibrahim al-Muhanna said at the International Oil Summit in Paris, stressing that "it is the core of OPEC+ cooperation."

China’s three state-owned oil companies are boosting domestic and overseas investment with the aim of increasing crude oil and natural gas output.

“Russia will not increase its output unless in coordination with the rest of OPEC and OPEC+ countries,” Mazroui said. “I believe in the wisdom of Russia, and I believe that Russia has benefited from this agreement... I don’t see any reason for Russia not to continue with us.”

Production by OPEC countries in March was 2.2 mb/d lower than in November and now there is uncertainty concerning Libya. Production by non-OPEC producers in 1Q19 was 0.7 mb/d lower than in 4Q18.

PLATTS - OPEC in March tightened the oil market considerably, slashing 570,000 b/d from its February output level, as Saudi Arabia continued to implement production cuts and Venezuela suffered from extensive power outages on top of US sanctions, an S&P Global Platts survey found.

The JMMC reiterated the critical role that the “Declaration of Cooperation” has played in supporting oil market stability since December 2016 and took note of the expressed commitment of all participating countries to ensure that such stability continues on a sustainable basis, as overall conformity reached almost 90% for the month of February 2019, which is up from 83% in the month of January.

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Monday that he was confident that OPEC and its non-OPEC partners will reach full conformity with cuts, and even exceed it, in weeks to come.

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday OPEC’s job in rebalancing the oil market was far from done as global inventories were still rising despite harsh U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, signaling it may need to expand output cuts into the second half of 2019.

In 2018, world oil demand is estimated to have grown by 1.43 mb/d, down by 0.04 mb/d from the previous estimate amid downward revisions in both OECD and non-OECD regions.