Mohamed Arkab, who currently holds the presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), also said that the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee, known as the JTC, has recommended that “an additional reduction in production be made until the end of the second quarter of 2020”.

The JTC which advises OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, concluded its meeting on Thursday.

“The coronavirus epidemic has a negative impact on economic activities, especially on the transport, tourism and industry, in China particularly, and also increasingly in the Asian region and gradually in the world,” Arkab said.