ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has no set timeframe to join OPEC oil production cuts, its oil minister said on Wednesday.
"Hopefully in the next two to three months we can see how predictable the production return has been and then can say we feel stabilized and need to make the corresponding cuts," Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told reporters.
Nigeria and Libya, whose output has been hit by political turmoil and attacks, are exempt from an OPEC deal aimed at cutting excess oil supplies.
Nigeria's benchmark level to join the OPEC cuts is production of 1.8 million barrels per day, and the country's current level is around 1.7 million barrels of crude per day, excluding condensates, Kachikwu said.
"We (OPEC) are fairly in consensus on our position on cuts," he said, adding that OPEC hoped oil prices would stabilize later this month.
Under the supply deal OPEC is curbing output by about 1.2 million bpd, while Russia and other non-OPEC producers are cutting half as much, until March 2018.
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OPEC said on Wednesday its oil production jumped in June and forecast world demand for its crude would decline next year as rivals pump more, pointing to a market surplus in 2018 despite the OPEC-led output cut.
Giving its first forecasts for 2018 in a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said the world will need 32.20 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from its members next year, a fall of 60,000 bpd from this year.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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