OPEC has no plans for an extraordinary meeting to discuss ways to shore up oil prices and doesn’t have a choice but to keep its crude production unchanged to maintain market share, Kuwait Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said, according to Bloomberg.
If other producers want to cut supply, “we will be very happy,” al-Omair said in Kuwait City. No “serious” requests have come from OPEC members to hold early talks so “accordingly the next meeting will be in June,” he said.
OPEC producer Algeria is seeking to coordinate a global response from outside the group to tumbling prices, Algeria Press Service reported March 17, citing Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi. Crude has lost half its value since June as U.S. producers pumped oil at the fastest pace since 1983 and OPEC decided on Nov. 27 to maintain output. Prices stand to rebound by the end of 2015 on signs of economic growth, al-Omair said.
If other producers want to cut supply, we will be very happy.
“Undoubtedly what we agreed on in November 2014 still stands,” al-Omair said. “We are looking for several factors to come into play that could determine the level of prices including the production levels of non-OPEC countries and rates of demand.”
Brent crude, a benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, dropped 2.8 percent to $54.32 a barrel Thursday on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.
OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s crude, pumped 30.6 million barrels a day in February, exceeding its target of 30 million barrels for a ninth-consecutive month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Benchmark Brent oil settled down nearly 3 percent while U.S. crude lost almost 2 percent, weighed by the dollar’s rise against most currencies, according to Reuters.
In the previous session, Brent rose nearly 5 percent and U.S. crude about 3 percent as the dollar suffered its biggest one-day tumble in 18 months on disappointment over the lack of a clear timeline for a U.S. interest rate hike.
