PARIS (Reuters) - OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on Thursday that a global oil inventory overhang was declining but oil stocks still needed to fall closer to the five-year industry average.
"While it is evident that the market rebalancing is now moving forward and investment specifically in short-cycle projects is returning, it is essential we do not take our eyes off our desired goals," he told a conference in Paris.
"We need to see the global stock overhang move closer to its five-year average. We need to see the return of more long-cycle investments."
The International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly oil market report that Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) oil industry stocks stood at around 3.06 billion barrels at the end of February, a figure that mostly includes crude and oil products.
Stocks were some 336 million barrels above the five-year average, the IEA said.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers are scheduled to meet on May 25 to discuss extending curbs on output which they agreed to covering the first half of 2017.
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The cuts total 1.8 million barrels per day, two-thirds of that from OPEC producers, and are aimed at clearing a supply glut that has depressed oil prices.
The International Energy Agency said this month that inventories in industrialised countries were still 10 percent above the five-year average, a key gauge for OPEC.
(Reporting by Alex Lawler; writing by Rania El Gamal and Ahmad Ghaddar; editing by Jason Neely)
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