OPEC battles price dive and faltering economy
OPEC ministers anxious to arrest a deep oil price slide and cushion a bruised world economy gathered in Vienna Thursday ahead of emergency talks.
International benchmark U.S. crude has slumped by more than 50 percent from a record high of $147.27 hit in July. On Thursday it was trading below $67.
The plunge prompted the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to bring forward to Friday an emergency meeting originally set for November 18.
As economic slowdown has destroyed demand for oil and stocks have built, most OPEC ministers have said a supply cut was essential.
But they have differed on how much oil should be removed to limit oversupply and protect their economies, while avoiding more pain for the consumers they rely on cash advance today.
On arriving in Vienna, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said only that the oil price would be determined by the market. He would not be drawn on the need for any cut.
Earlier Iran’s Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said OPEC needed to cut output by two million barrels per day (bpd).
OPEC sources have said at least a million bpd needed to be taken away, while OPEC President Chakib Khelil said it could require more than one meeting to get the right balance between supply and demand and between producer and consumer needs.
Filed under: economics by TheDoor