New Saudi oil minister endorses production cuts

Saudi Arabia's new energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Monday reportedly endorsed curbing oil output to address an oversupply, as major producing nations prepare to deliberate fresh cuts. In his first comments since being appointed by his father King Salman on Sunday, the minister signaled no major change in approach in Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC which pumps about a third of the cartel's oil.

"The pillars of our oil policy are pre-determined and will not change," he said according to Saudi broadcaster Al-Arabiya. The prince is in Abu Dhabi to attend the World Energy Congress, followed by a meeting on Thursday of the OPEC+ alliance's Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which monitors a supply cut deal reached last year.

The minister will consider fresh cuts, even though analysts are doubtful such a move would succeed in bolstering crude prices which have been badly dented by the US-China trade war. However, Prince Abdulaziz appeared to swing his support behind further output reductions to rebalance the crude market.

"Cutting output will benefit all members of OPEC," he reportedly said.

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