Kuwait wants the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to extend output cuts beyond June, becoming the producer group’s first member to call for more time to balance the global oil market, Bloomberg reported.

The US inventories have climbed more than expected, causing prices to decline even as global producers cut their output, Gulf News informed, citing Kuwait’s Oil Minister, Issam Al-Marzooq.

Ther minister added that the Gulf country supports rolling over the oil cuts, though it’s too early for OPEC to agree on an extension.

Al-Marzooq explained that an extension will ‘‘accelerate the re-balancing of the global oil market and will contribute to the return of prices to levels acceptable for producing countries and for the petroleum industry in general.”

OPEC and 11 other major producers agreed in 2016 to slash production, spurring a 20 % increase in Brent oil prices during the last five weeks of 2016. However, Brent crude, a global benchmark, has declined 9.6% in 2017 as the US output and supplies continued to grow.