Ecuador supports emergency OPEC meeting proposal – oil minister

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries wants help from oil producing countries which aren’t members of the group in stabilising the oil market, Kuwait’s top OPEC representative Nawal al-Fuzaia said on Tuesday.

“Given how this developed, it should be viewed as something Opec and non-Opec tackle together”.

Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdulmahdi said his country was “ready to cooperate” on cutting production to raise oil prices but only if non-Opec producers did as well. “But any additional supplies from current levels will put pressure on prices”.

Al-Badri said the world needs an investment blitz of US$10 trillion to replace depleting oil fields and to meet extra demand of 17 million barrels per day by 2040, yet projects are being shelved at an alarming rate.

The TSX looks set to kick off the trading week with losses, dragged down by sharply lower oil prices.

The comments represent a departure from the previous stance when Russia’s energy ministry has repeatedly said it could talk to OPEC but sees no reason to cut production artificially. “This should be finalised and we should hear some solid suggestions coming from all parts, from OPEC and non-OPEC, at least from OPEC”, Mahdi said.

Oil prices have collapsed to below $28 a barrel this month from $100 in mid-2014 on a supply glut that has caused global oil stockpiles to swell to unprecedented levels.

It must be said that the prospects of any co-operation from outside Opec are weak at the best of times.

“We expect that we will go through one more downturn cycle of oil price”.

Minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, made the call for an OPEC emergency while speaking at a panel session at the ongoing World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, adding Nigeria’s voice to those of OPEC members, such as Venezuela, that are requesting an emergency meeting of the oil-producing nations to address the current oil crisis.

So far only non-OPEC Oman and Azerbaijan have expressed willingness to cut production in tandem with OPEC.

Crude oil for March delivery was up 3 cents at USD30.35 a barrel, not far from a recent 12-year low. Indonesia’s Opec representative said that only one member of the cartel supported calling an emergency meeting to discuss ways of boosting oil prices. “The market is definitely going to balance itself because today’s oil price is not sustainable whatsoever”, he told a conference. I don’t think there will be big changes in the oil market in four years.

“The news that Iraq has probably hit another record builds on the oversupply sentiment”, said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.