The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of oil producers that convened in Baku, the Republic of Azerbaijan on Monday reported a sizable improvement in compliance with production cuts implemented at the start of this year.

It also recommended during its 13th meeting that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cancel its ministerial meeting scheduled for April, reported Emirates news agency Wam.

The Committee reviewed the monthly report prepared by its Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and recent developments in the global oil market, as well as immediate prospects for the remainder of 2019.

The JMMC reiterated the critical role that the "Declaration of Cooperation" has played in supporting oil market stability since December 2016 and took note of the expressed commitment of all participating countries to ensure that such stability continues on a sustainable basis, as overall conformity reached almost 90 per cent for the month of February 2019, which is up from 83 per cent in the month of January.

The Committee recognised the current, critical uncertainties surrounding the global oil market throughout 2019, and stressed on the shared responsibility of all participating countries to restore market stability and prevent the recurrence of any market imbalance.

All participating countries present at the meeting, individually and collectively, assured the Committee that they will exceed their voluntary production adjustments over the coming months, the JMMC said in a statement.

To this end, the JMMC also urged all participating countries, including those not present at today’s meeting, to achieve full and timely conformity with their voluntary production adjustments under the decisions of the 175th Meeting of the Opec Conference, December 6, 2018, and the 5th Opec and non-Opec Ministerial Meeting, December 7, 2018.

In consideration that market fundamentals are unlikely to materially change in the next two months, the JMMC adopted a recommendation to forego the full Ministerial Meeting in April and instead schedule a JMMC meeting in May ahead of the Opec Conference meeting on June 25, during which a decision will be taken on the production target for the second half of 2019.

The JMMC also endorsed the adjustments of the baselines of three countries, Brunei Darussalam, Ecuador and Malaysia.

The JTC will continue its monthly meetings and the next meeting of the JMMC is scheduled to take place in May 2019, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.