• Minister of Energy: OPEC will remain the world's central oil bank for a long time

    13/11/2018

    Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid Al-Falih, said that OPEC will remain the world's central bank for a long time.

    He explained that "OPEC" and its allies agree that technical analysis shows the need to achieve balance in the market through reducing the oil supply next year by about one million barrels per day compared to October's levels.

    According to Reuters, he said-on an industry occasion in Abu Dhabi-that the demand from Saudi customers in December will drop more than half a million barrels per day, compared to November, and there is consensus that stockpiles should not be allowed to increase.

    He added, "If all the other factors remain the same, and this will certainly not be because things will change - it is a dynamic market - the technical analysis we have seen tells us that there will be a need to reduce supply compared to October's levels and close to one million barrels."

    And he said, "There is a consensus that we need to do everything we need to achieve a balance in the market, if that means cutting supplies by one million barrels a day, then we will."

    He pointed out that the US sanctions on Iran did not cut much of the market as expected.

     

    OPEC and its allies, including Russia, agreed in June to ease production restrictions in force since 2017 to compensate for Iran's loss of supplies.

    The market is negatively affected by expectations of supply surpluses and slowing demand in 2019.

    Al-Falih said Saudi Arabia was not prepared to dismantle the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and believed that the organization would remain the world's central bank for a long time.

     

    The Wall Street Journal, on its report last Thursday, claimed that the most important research center funded by the Saudi government was studying the potential impact of oil markets on the disintegration of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

    In this context, Al-Falih said that the research center was only trying to "think outside the box" and analyze all perceptions, and the Saudi leadership "is not thinking about canceling OPEC at all." He added, "OPEC is important for the balance of oil markets."

     

    Al-Falih announced yesterday that Saudi Arabia plans to reduce its oil supply to world markets by 500,000 barrels per day in December, at a time when OPEC is facing uncertain prospects in its attempts to persuade other producers to agree to a reduction in production coordinator.

    Al-Falih told reporters that the allocation of Saudi Aramco crude oil to its customers will decline 500 thousand barrels per day in December, compared with November due to the seasonal decline in demand.

    This means a reduction in world oil supplies by around 0.5 per cent.

     

    According to "the German", Suhail AlMazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry in the UAE and Chairman of the current session of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "OPEC," said that OPEC is not a political organization, but all parties work to ensure the stability of the oil market, which is indicating that the global economy cannot afford the consequences of the absence of "OPEC".

    Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Conference (ADIPEC 2018) will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, will continue in Abu Dhabi until next Thursday.

    ADIPEC and its accompanying exhibition are of great importance as one of the world's three largest oil and gas industry exhibitions and the largest in the Middle East and North Africa region.

    The conference brings together regional and international experts and specialists in the oil and gas industry under one umbrella to share knowledge, experiences and best practices, which will contribute to shaping the future of the energy sector in the world.

    Al-Mazroui told reporters in Abu Dhabi that OPEC was ready to meet the needs of oil markets if they were exposed to supply shortages as a result of any political factors.

    He added, "We will review the market in the coming days until we meet next month to take the decision."

     He pointed out that the OPEC meetings are working to achieve a balance between supply and demand, which can achieve a fair price.

     

    According to Reuters, the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said yesterday that a decision on global oil production was not taken during the meeting of oil producers from OPEC and outside in Abu Dhabi.

    Novak said, speaking to Russia's state television channel 24, that the current situation in the world oil market is very stable, although the American exceptions to the sanctions imposed on Iran have affected the market.

     

    Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted a Kuwaiti oil official as saying yesterday, a meeting between senior oil exporters in Abu Dhabi "discussed a proposal for a new amendment on reducing production somewhat over the next year."

    Kuwait's governor in OPEC, Haitham al-Ghais, added that the proposal did not specify the amount of reduction.​

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