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OPEC concerned over oil price decline — experts

Since June 2014, oil price has already decreased by some 30%

© AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach

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Russian energy minister doubts that OPEC countries will cut production quotas

NEW YORK, November 25. /TASS/. The leadership of the New York-based leading global provider of commodity market information Platts said on Tuesday that most member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) are concerned over the prospect of the further oil price decline. Platts Director of News John Kingston told TASS that if at its Vienna meeting on November 27 OPEC makes the decision to reduce the oil production quotas, it will be done only to stop the price fall. Otherwise, he said, the oil market is facing redivision.

Kingston believes that in 2015 the demand for the cartel’s oil will be much lower than the current production level. And if OPEC fails to reduce quotas, the suppliers will begin fierce struggle for the sales markets. In this case, it would be impossible to predict how deeply the oil price would plunge.

Since June 2014, oil price has already decreased by some 30%. According to the Platts representative, the current situation is unique: the struggle for the market share is currently underway. The question is whether OPEC is able to perform its function and prevent the market flooding, Kingston said.

The OPEC countries last time reduced oil production quotas in 2008 when the oil price fell from $140 to $32 a barrel. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak assesses the probability of cutting the production level by OPEC countries after the coming Vienna meeting as “low.”

Representatives of the OPEC countries have been in active consultations in recent weeks. Some cartel members such as Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela and Ecuador are for the quota reduction as soon as possible, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait are against, while the stance of the most influential OPEC member Saudi Arabia is still unclear.

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