DUBAI: Qatar’s oil minister said yesterday he personally expects OPEC to cut oil production by no less than 1 million barrels per day at its Oct. 24 meeting, but any decision will be based on a careful study of fundamentals.
“I personally believe that it (the cut) will be 1 million or more or 1 million barrels per day a minimum. These are only personal expectations that I cannot confirm,” Abdullah Al-Attiyah told Al Jazeera television from Italy. “The decision will be based on a careful study of real numbers and not only expectations.”
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said yesterday it had brought forward an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of global recession on oil markets to Friday next week.
Asked about the reason behind bringing forward the meeting (from Nov. 18), Attiyah said it was meant to allow members to “take action before solutions become more difficult ... Prices have plunged in a very big way.”
Oil fell below $70 a barrel for the first time since August last year after the US government data showed larger than expected increases in crude and gasoline inventories and weaker product demand.
Crude oil inventories in the United States rose 5.6 million barrels last week, the government data showed, compared with analysts’ expectation of a 1.9 million barrel increase.
