OPEC Secretary-General, ‘Abd Allah al-Badri, speaking to reporters on 13 December in Vienna, expressed concern over the global economy, calm over the threat to OPEC posed by surging US shale oil and confidence that ministers had taken the correct decision when they met the previous day.
The 12 December decision, which maintained OPEC’s current 30mn b/d output ceiling, despite projections of a looming 1.25mn b/d fall in demand for OPEC crude next quarter, was not just correct, but unavoidable given current prices, Mr Badri argued. “At a price of $110/B, why cut production?” he asked, stressing the importance of consumer economies to OPEC. “The economic situation in the world at this time is really fragile…we are living in this world with other countries and those other countries are facing some difficulties. We cannot cut production at this time. This is important…we want the boat to go steaming in the right direction.” (CONTINUED - 903 WORDS)
