Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

OPEC in New Push to Clinch First Deal to Curb Output Since 2008 | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55358867
Caption:

The OPEC logo is seen at OPEC’s headquarters during a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2015. REUTERS


OPEC member country Algeria is expected to host a meeting for the organization’s oil ministers next week.

The last two OPEC meetings held in Algeria — in 2004 and 2008 — shocked the market with unexpected production cuts to prop up prices.

The stars might once again align for OPEC next week when its ministers return to Algiers and look ready to curb output for the first time in eight years, according to OPEC officials and sources.

Behind the scenes, OPEC experts are trying to work out last-minute details for an output-limiting deal that would impress the market but also allow oil ministers to claim victories at home in front of their respective domestic audiences.

“This time I think (things are) a little bit different because circumstances are a little bit better, helping (producers) to reach a deal,” Iraq’s OPEC governor Falah Alamri said on Thursday.

He said OPEC had to act when it meets Russia on the sidelines of an energy producers and consumers conference in Algeria next week simply because current oil prices at $45-50 per barrel were not acceptable to the group’s members.

Alamri also added that Iraq would not kill the deal: “We are not intending to flood the market, we are intending to support the market…. we will not participate in any action that will reduce the price.”

Source: Reuters