Opec production at six-month high

摘要

Rising Iranian crude production after the end of US and EU nuclear-related sanctions threatens to keep oil prices under pressure, as Opec’s core Mideast Gulf countries and Iraq maintain their output near record highs. Prospects for oil policy co-ordination between Opec and Russia remain slim while Saudi Arabia, the architect of the group’s market share strategy, pursues the policy to its logical conclusion of shutting in higher-cost non-Opec output through lower prices. Saudi Arabia is facing more pressure to support prices by relenting in its battle for market share. Venezuelan oil minister Eulogio del Pino on 4 February said he had secured the support of six major oil producers, including Iran and Iraq, for an emergency meeting between Opec and non-Opec producers to address low oil prices. But Riyadh and its Mideast Gulf allies Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE remain opposed to a unilateral Opec output cut-in the absence of similar restraints from major non-Opec producers-meaning that repeated calls for an emergency Opec meeting are likely to fail. The Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Iranian oil ministers have ruled out an emergency meeting before all 13 Opec members agree a new policy.