At its latest meeting OPEC failed to agree on limiting output which would have boosted the price of crude.
Advertisement
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on Wednesday rejected suggestions OPEC would agree on a general cap in the Austrian capital, saying his country backed a return to a national quota system.
Member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday failed to reach an agreement on measures to influence crude supplies and prices.
The 13-member oil cartel had been looking for a successor to Abdalla El-Badri from Libya after he had served out a full term in 2013.
It is expected the participants formulate the OPEC policy for next six months, discuss the situation of oil market and elect a new secretary general for the organization.
– Reuters picLONDON, June 3 ― Brent crude held its gains near US$50 (RM207) a barrel as investors shrugged off Opec’s decision to stick to its policy of unfettered output amid signs the global market is re-balancing.
He said Iran’s oil exports have doubled since the last OPEC meeting in December to about 2.023 million bpd in May.
Meanwhile Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s minister of petroleum, says oil outputs in the country rose to 1.6 million barrels a day after it fell to about 1.4 million, following militants attack.
OPEC chose to unanimously appoint Nigeria’s Mohammed Barkindo as the new head of the cartel despite years of uncertainty over this decision.
Oil producers are set to meet again November 30.
However, it rebounded after a US Department of Energy report showed commercial crude inventories sank by 1.4 million barrels last week, indicating a pick-up in demand in the world’s top crude consumer. “The ongoing evidence that demand is picking up in the United States and that there is a supply side response, is keeping the market supported”.
The members also approved Gabon’s request to rejoin the organisation from July.
Brent has surged nearly 80% from a 12-year low in January amid disruptions from Nigeria to Venezuela, while US output declines under price pressure from OPEC’s policy of sustaining production.
At the same time, OPEC officials argued the cartel was alive and well, scoffing at suggestions that its authority was eroding to the point where it will soon be negligible.
Advertisement
In recent years the group’s grip on prices seems to have come to an end, as prices above $100 US/barrel spurred research and development into finding alternate sources of oil.
