But their options are limited. Venezuela has warned of a “catastrophe” if OPEC doesn’t cut output, saying prices could tumble to $30 a barrel.
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The Saudis have previously said they would be prepared to consider a cut only if others did so too – notably OPEC members Iran and Iraq, and non-member Russian Federation.
Indonesia, which produced an estimated 789,000 barrels a day a year ago and has 3.7 billion barrels in reserve, originally joined OPEC in 1962 and left the group in 2009.
The group will likely postpone a technical increase in its ceiling to accommodate returning member Indonesia until next year, although one source said it may make a technical adjustment in the formal rate in order to match current output, which is running some 1.5 million bpd higher.
Conference president Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu described the oil industry Friday as “in the midst of another challenging cycle”.
OPEC oil ministers have effectively scrapped their official output ceiling and agreed to keep producing above that level.
“We are only 35 per cent of the producers an there are still 65… per cent producers out there”.
“I’m realistic”, said Iranian oil minister Bijan Zangeneh.
That strategy clearly hasn’t worked, with benchmark USA crude’s value falling by more than 40 percent over the past year and now hovering around the $41 mark per barrel.
“The bigger question is about the threat which the organization is facing now, because the probabilities are skewed that its members will start doing what they think it is best for them and as a result we could see the price war becoming even more intense”, Aslam said, in a note.
Global oil markets have been swamped by near-record oversupply, leading hedge funds to amass one of their largest positions betting on further price falls.
TAIPEI-In line with the seesaw fluctuations in worldwide crude oil prices in recent sessions, domestic diesel prices could move lower but gasoline prices could stay stable next week, market sources said yesterday.
“Despite the fact that most analysts here expect that OPEC will not change the current production policy, the discussions and exchanges of views among members are still going on”. “It’s a worldwide game of chicken in a 94 million barrel-a-day market”.
OPEC said it would decide on an official production number at its next gathering in June, after it monitors the market amid a return to higher production levels by Iran sometime after western powers lift economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“Although a production cut on Friday is unlikely, the group will need to address the increase in Iranian production once sanctions are lifted in early 2016”.
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“These developments indicate the onset of a more balanced market in 2016, with demand for Opec crude expected to rise by 1.2 million bpd to average 30.8 million bpd for the year”. A solution to the market slump requires a global effort as OPEC pumps less than half the world’s oil, Kachikwu said on Friday in a Bloomberg TV interview in Vienna. The hope was that would eventually lead to a drop in supply and a rebound in prices.
