The Chairman of the Joint Technical Committee, and Saudi governor for OPEC, Adeeb Al-Aama, stated that despite the international oil markets being well balanced in the third quarter, there will still be substantial stock draws due to robust demand and seasonality factors in the second half. speaking in Vienna on the sidelines of a meeting of the committee which monitors OPEC and Non-OPEC production. Al-Aama described concerns that Saudi Arabia and its partners are moving to substantially oversupply the market as "without basis", explaining that the Kingdom is committed to working with its partners in the Declaration of Cooperation. He further stated that Saudi crude oil exports in July will be roughly equal to their June levels, and that he expects exports in August to drop by roughly 100 kbd. He stressed that the policy of Saudi Arabia is to work on satisfying customers' needs, but to do so while adhering to the OPEC agreement and the OPEC-Non-OPEC Declaration of Cooperation, adding that Saudi Arabia only exports barrels that are earmarked to match confirmed lifting requests by end users, and does not try to push oil into the market beyond its customers' needs. The Saudi OPEC governor added that stable and balanced markets are the ideal market form for both producers and consumers, and just as Saudi Arabia would not like to see unmet customer demand, an oversupplied market repels potential investment in the oil industry, curtailing future supply and contributing to volatility. He also said that it is this common objective of stabilizing the global oil market which has brought the 25 OPEC and Non-OPEC producers to work together under the historic Declaration of Cooperation, which remains in effect till the end of 2018.
