KUWAIT: The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) yesterday rejected social media reports that a ship went "out of control at the Shuwaikh Port berth." A video circulated on the social media is on an incident that took place at the Port of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, the KPC said in a statement. Meanwhile, the statement noted that the Shuwaikh Port had suspended traffic due to bad weather. The KPC called for verification, checking accuracy and adhering to credibility before publishing news related to the corporation to avoid any negative impact on the country's trade reputation. The KPC is a top vital and strategic institution, considered as Kuwait's "trade and economic artery", and it contributes up to 80 percent of the state's trade, the statement stressed.

OPEC begins meeting

Meanwhile, OPEC's oil ministers started yesterday - primarily aimed at discussing extension of the November deal on cutting the crude output. Insiders said that expectations are high that the conferees would agree on extending the accord till March 2019, beside monitoring output of the American shale oil. It is necessary that the OPEC and non-OPEC producers "send a clear message to the market to beef up its stability," according to an analyst.

The meeting comes on the heels of a session by the Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which called for extending the agreement of cutting oil output for another nine months. Kuwait's Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Essam Al-Marzouq said the commission made progress regarding global oil markets.

Furthermore, the technical committee has stressed that it, supported by OPEC secretary, will continue to provide its monthly evaluation to concerned bodies.  The JMMC was founded following OPEC's 171st Ministerial Conference Decision of November 30, 2016 and the subsequent Declaration of Cooperation made at the joint OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting held on December 10, 2016.

During the December meeting, 11 non-OPEC oil producers cooperated with the 13 OPEC member states in a concerted effort to accelerate the rebalancing of the global oil market through an adjustment in combined production of 1.8 million barrels per day.  The declaration, which came into effect on January 1, 2017, is for six months. The JMMC is tasked with ensuring that the objectives of OPEC's 171st Ministerial Conference Decision and the Declaration of Cooperation are achieved through successful implementation of voluntary adjustments in production. - Agencies