OIL MARKET BALANCE

REUTERS - Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday the oil market is "on the right track" and will quickly return to balance, but oil producers are willing to do more if needed.

"If we look beyond the noise of weekly data and speculators' herd-like behavior, I remain convinced that we're on the right track, and that the oil market will quickly return to balance," said Falih, addressing an oil conference in Abu Dhabi.

"If we find that more needs to be done, we will do so in unison with our OPEC and non-OPEC partners where collaboration is essential too," he added.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and other leading global oil producers led by Russia, agreed in December to cut their combined oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day starting from January to prevent a supply glut and boost sagging prices.

Falih said that secondary sources suggest OPEC production in December was already more than 600,000 barrels per day lower than in November.

"We in Saudi Arabia went beyond our commitment, and have lowered both production and exports," he said.

Falih later told reporters that he sees no need for an extraordinary OPEC meeting before April, when the group is set to decide its output policy for the rest of 2019.

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Earlier:

2019, January, 14, 12:20:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $60 REUTERS - International Brent crude oil futures were at $59.88 per barrel at 0816 GMT, down 60 cents, or 1 percent from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 59 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $51 a barrel.

2019, January, 14, 12:10:00 RUSSIA'S OIL PRODUCTION DOWN 30 TBD PLATTS - Russia has already lowered its oil output by around 30,000 b/d compared with October volumes, used as a baseline under the latest OPEC/non-OPEC crude production agreement, and still plans to reach a cut of 50,000 b/d by the end of January, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said Friday.

2019, January, 14, 11:45:00 OIL NEED INVESTMENT PLATTS - Oil prices averaging $70/b in 2018 underscore the need for more investment in new supply, UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told delegates at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

2019, January, 9, 11:15:00 OPEC OIL PRODUCTION DOWN 630 TBD PLATTS - OPEC crude production in December tumbled 630,000 b/d month on month, an S&P Global Platts survey of industry officials, analysts and shipping data showed Tuesday, but the organization still has much more cutting to do to reach its new quotas for 2019.

2019, January, 9, 11:10:00 SAUDI'S OIL PRODUCTION DOWN 400 TBD MEOG - Saudi Arabia reportedly cut its crude production by more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December 2018. Saudi crude production sat at 10.65 million bpd (mbpd) that month, down from 11.07 mbpd in November.

2019, January, 4, 11:55:00 OIL PRICE LEVEL: $60 - 70 MEOG - A $60-70 per barrel oil price level appears adequate to incentivise sufficient long-term supply. The cost to develop both tight oil resources and conventional upstream oil projects has declined significantly since the oil price collapse of 2015-16.

2018, December, 26, 07:40:00 ОПЕК + РОССИЯ: МИНУС 2.5% МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - Принято консолидированное решение о совместных действиях с коллегами из ОПЕК и не ОПЕК по сокращению добычи на 2,5% для стран ОПЕК и 2% для стран не ОПЕК.