PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania), November 18. /TASS/. The OPEC member states should carefully consider the consequences of decisions that will made during the November 30 meeting in Vienna, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol said Thursday.
"It's important to have agreement in Vienna but it's also important to think about next steps, about what the consequences could be," he said.
Citing media reports, Birol said that the forthcoming OPEC meeting may produce two possible outcomes - one is to freeze and the other is to cut the production.
"I do not know what they are going to decide but I expect that my colleagues at the OPEC will look at the interests of their member countries and the global economy, as they usually do," he said.
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When asked to comment on his own vision of oil prices for 2017, the official replied that "it's very difficult to give a precise number," because "it will be defined by many factors."
Birol visited Philadelphia to receive the prestigious Carnot Prize for his "significant contribution to the international policy debate on energy and climate change." The IEA chief said the prize, awarded by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy in recognition of distinguished contributions to energy policy, was "a great honor for me, for my family and for the International Energy Agency.".