If Iran doesn’t boost production, neighboring countries will pump more oil within six to 12 months and take away its market share, Javadi said.
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Right now, Oil prices have plunged to below $28 per barrel.
Global oil demand growth slipped to a one-year low in the fourth quarter, from close to a five-year high in the third, amid mild winter temperatures and economic weakness in commodity producers.
With regard to crude oil price movements, the OPEC Reference Basket lost $6.86 in December to average $33.64 per barrel, and the report attributes this to “Persistent oversupply coupled with increasing signs of a slowing pace of growth in the Chinese economy, [which] exerted pressure on the oil market”.
In its monthly oil market report, OPEC predicted the oil bust will force global non-OPEC output to sink by 660,000 barrels a day this year, a 69-percent downward revision of its prior monthly forecast.
But four other delegates from countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said such a meeting was unlikely to happen.
Jim Washer, Energy Intelligence, Abdalla Salem El-Badri, OPEC Secretary Gernal and Tomas Gonzalez Estrada, Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy appear on stage on Day 1 at the International New York Times/Energy Intelligence Oil & Money Conference at The InterContinental Hotel on October 29, 2014 in London, England.
Venezuela is now undergoing its worst recession since the 1940s and the same can be said of other members whose economy is shrinking as a result of the persistent fall in the price of oil. Economists at Barclays bank have said that it will struggle to avoid a default or restructuring because of the collapse in the oil price. While “an extraordinary meeting would just make sense if OPEC is willing to cut”, cooperation from non-OPEC nations has been a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia to curb supply, he said. “It will also be the year when the rebalancing process starts”.
The Persian Gulf exporter could add 300,000 barrels a day by the end of the first quarter and 600,000 barrels a day by the middle of the year, the IEA said. Ahead of the pack, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait can now remain profitable in their oil production, since their extraction costs remain a mere $10 per barrel. It exported around 3.4 million barrels per day in November, much higher than 2.5 million barrels per day in January previous year.
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Canada increased oil export by 2 percent during past year.
