Opening Statement by Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy at the 13th JMMC Meeting

Delivered by HE Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy, at the 13^th Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), 18 March 2019, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Distinguished Ministers, Secretary General, dear guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to welcome all of you in beautiful Baku at the 13^th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee.

At the outset, let me specifically greet the Chairman of the JMMC, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Mr. Khalid A. Al Falih, the co-chair of the JMMC – Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Mr. Alexander Novak, the incumbent President of the OPEC Conference, the People's Minister of Petroleum of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, His Excellency Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez, and the OPEC Secretary General, His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.

I also want to welcome distinguished Ministers and Heads of Delegations of other JMMC members and those from OPEC and non-OPEC countries. I want to thank you all, Excellences, for accepting the invitation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev to hold an OPEC+ event in Baku and for being with us today.

As a matter of fact, the creation of the united format of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in order to tackle the challenges in the global oil market stems from the idea by President Ilham Aliyev, which he proposed during World Economic Forum held in Davos in 2016. He said that more coordination between OPEC members and non-OPEC members with respect of the reduction of production can bring results.

Your presence in Baku for this meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee testifies to high value attached to the history of oil.

This event also legitimizes the historic role of Azerbaijan in oil industry as the land of first industrially drilled oil well, the origin of the first offshore oil platform and the first oil pipeline, by giving these facts a widespread acceptance. This very country – Azerbaijan, was the world champion in oil production and refining in 1899 and accounted for the half of world oil production volume.

Azerbaijan does not export big volumes to the world market. However, its modest role is enhanced by the fact that Azerbaijan works towards ensuring energy security in the neighboring regions and the larger continent, and acts as a reliable partner in regard to the large scale energy projects that it implements in cooperation with its partners.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have come a long way since countries in the OPEC+ format joined their efforts towards achieving market stabilization through production adjustments. We are pleased with our results.

I hope that our discussions on the draft “Charter of Cooperation among Oil Producing Countries” will also be soon finalized and we will hence continue our efforts towards maintaining market balance within a more consolidated framework.

Our experience of close collaboration within the Declaration of Cooperation for more than two years as well as the tendencies of the global oil market and geopolitical realities also demonstrate that our cooperation is indispensable for mitigation of risks.

We can assert with confidence that OPEC+ format is an effective platform influencing global energy market. We have seen the impacts of our decisions. Our unity of purpose ensures taking necessary decisions for achieving the balance between supply and demand in order to stabilize oil prices. OPEC+ provides reliable and in most cases, the only support to the global oil market. Our collaboration within the OPEC+ format define the future prospects of our cooperation and set the patterns of progress in world oil market.

Currently we are experiencing positive dynamism in the prices for oil. We managed to avert the slump in oil prices observed since October last year. This is our common success and we should work further to maintain our achievements.

I hope that today’s discussions will enable us to analyze the current situation and make projections for future. Let me express again our satisfaction to host this event in Baku and note that Azerbaijan will henceforth stand ready to continue supporting the efforts towards balancing global oil market.

Last, but not least, allow me to thank OPEC Secretariat for all the support, high professionalism and dedication demonstrated in the run up to this JMMC meeting and wish success to our today’s deliberations.

Thank you.