OPEC May Retain Current Cutbacks, Keep Prices Stable
OPEC oil ministers today opened their fifth meeting of the year on ways to boost oil prices amid hints they might simply prolong their interim production cutback because it has stabilized the battered oil market.
“I had many contacts with different ministers before the meeting, and I feel they are all happy and satisfied with the current agreement,” Iranian oil minister Gholamreza Aghazadeh told reporters.
The interim agreement--a compromise masterminded by Aghazadeh--effectively capped the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ total output at 16.8 million barrels a day for September and October by reimposing individual output quotas set in 1984.
The move took the satiated market by surprise. Prices that had sunk to 10-year lows of under $10 a barrel shot up overnight by as much as 50%.
World oil prices currently are holding at around $14 a barrel as traders wait to see whether the cartel remains firm this time on curbing output.
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