The outcome of this week’s OPEC meeting remains to be decided, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said Tuesday amid widespread expectations that the cartel will keep production levels unchanged.
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When asked if Saudi Arabia’s strategy of defending its market share is working, Naimi responded with questions: “Which strategy?”.
Asali, who is Iranian oil ministry’s secretary for OPEC affairs and relations with energy organizations, said that the Iranian minister has informed the organization that Iran will revive its pre-sanction output and the OPEC members should open space for the Islamic Republic’s output.
A second OPEC source said he expected more downward pressure on oil prices if the United States raised its inter?est rates in December, helping the dollar to extend gains from its recent peaks.
On Monday, the price of a barrel of Brent crude had lifted 1.4% to US$45.5 and U.S. light crude rose 1.5% to US$42.35, having fallen from more than US$100 a barrel since late past year.
In the wake of 168th session of OPEC’s meeting in Vienna, Ministry of Petroleum Secretary for OPEC Affairs Mahdi Asali said Bijan Zanganeh has recently sent a letter to OPEC’s Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri calling for the reduction of the member countries’ production ceiling to 30 million barrels per day as well as highlighting two issues. They thing demand will climb just 1 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, output from top global producers is showing no sign of abating.
“Crude prices are likely to stay sideways ahead of the OPEC meeting, where Iran is expected to announce plans to expand output”.
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Russian oil production hit a new post-Soviet high in October.
