Qatar and Kuwait to start cutting oil production from January 1

Oil companies in Qatar and Kuwait have announced that they will start reducing production levels from the start of 2017.

The reduction — scheduled to start on January 1 — comes following the recent decisions by OPEC and non-OPEC oil-producing countries to cap output, reported Gulf Times.

“We’ve started advising our customers of the expected reductions in oil deliveries to ensure the state's compliance with OPEC's allocations,” read a statement from Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, president and chief executive of Qatar Petroleum.

“This decision comes in line with the state of Qatar's commitment to the recently agreed production levels by the members of OPEC during its ministerial meeting held on 30 November, 2016.”

The statement did not give any further details about production levels.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) also informed its clients that their export quantities will be reduced, starting in January.

It did not provide any details of the quantities to be reduced.

UAE's ADNOC had earlier announced that it was “committed to meeting new OPEC terms.”

On November 30, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE were among OPEC countries that agreed to reduce output by 1.2m barrels per day.

This was followed earlier this month by non-OPEC oil producing countries agreeing a cut of 558,000 barrel per day.