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DOHA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Freezing oil producers' output will be adequate to improve the oil market, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a news conference after he agreed with the oil ministers of Qatar, Russia and Venezuela to freeze their output at January levels providing that other major producers followed suit.
"Freezing now at the January level is adequate for the market, we believe," he said.
"We recognise today the supply is going down because of current prices. We also recognise that demand is on the rise.
"The reason we agree to a potential freeze of production is simply, it is the beginning of a process which we will assess in the next few months and decide if we need other steps to stabilise and improve the market," Naimi said.
"This is very important, we don't want significant gyrations in prices, we want to meet demand. We want a stable oil price," he added.
(Reporting by OPEC team; Writing by Andrew Torchia) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
He was speaking at a news conference after he agreed with the oil ministers of Qatar, Russia and Venezuela to freeze their output at January levels providing that other major producers followed suit.
"Freezing now at the January level is adequate for the market, we believe," he said.
"We recognise today the supply is going down because of current prices. We also recognise that demand is on the rise.
"The reason we agree to a potential freeze of production is simply, it is the beginning of a process which we will assess in the next few months and decide if we need other steps to stabilise and improve the market," Naimi said.
"This is very important, we don't want significant gyrations in prices, we want to meet demand. We want a stable oil price," he added.
(Reporting by OPEC team; Writing by Andrew Torchia) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
