Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi With Agency Report
Some key member of global oil cartel the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are now calling for a “fair” price for crude oil.
Oil ministers from Iraq, Venezuela and Angola had proposed in Vienna that a price of $75 or $80 a barrel – barely $10 above the going rate – could be just fine.
Iraq’s Adel Abdel Mahdi said it would be “equitable”.
Privately, one Gulf OPEC delegate was quoted as saying that crude might be trading around the $80 level next year, once markets rebalanced.
It remains to be seen whether this new range becomes a common refrain for the group, which has effectively given up efforts to maintain prices in order to defend its share of the world market.
Importantly, Saudi Arabia – which for years had pointed to $100 a barrel as a “fair price for producers and consumers” – has given no indication that it subscribes to this view.
Yet simply by uttering the numbers, OPEC ministers are helping to quench a craving among traders, investors and energy executives for clarity on medium-term oil prices, an indication as to when months of uncertainty and volatility may end.
To be sure, there is no indication that the OPEC as a whole feels any urgency to push prices back up into the $70s – in fact quite the opposite.
The group is expected on today to agree to maintain its current production for months to come.