FILE PHOTO: OPEC President Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada and OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo address a news conference after a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader

VIENNA (Reuters) - Qatar’s energy minister said on Saturday he was optimistic that extending a global oil supply cut beyond June would improve market stability, and that there was merit in continuing the curbs through March 2018.

“We are optimistic that the extension of the agreement to the second half of this year will improve market stability, due to the higher expected demand in Q3 and Q4. This is further supported by the fact that the world economic situation is progressively improving,” Mohammad al-Sada said in a statement.

“We also see merits of extending the agreement further to the first quarter of 2018, when the demand is seasonally lower.”

Sada said a number of oil producers had shown support in recent days for extending the agreement, and that the process of rebalancing supply and demand “is finally gaining momentum” after almost three years of gains in oil inventories.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-member oil producers meet on May 25 in Vienna to decide on output policy.