OPEC, which pumps a third of the world's oil, will probably reduce oil production from a 1 and a half year high to bolster prices as demand slows and concern wanes Iraq's industry will be ravaged by war, analysts said.
Crude oil in London has plunged 28 percent since March 7 to less than US$25 a barrel as Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries cheated on their quotas to avert shortages. That crude is flooding the market as demand slows with the end of the Northern Hemisphere winter.
OPEC President Abdullah Bin Hamad al-Attiyah is planning a meeting for April 24 with the rest of the group to consider cutting supplies. Members are pumping 1.57 million barrels a day more than targeted, enough to supply Spain, and need to curtail that excess, analysts said.
"What OPEC will have to do is go back to the quota," said Leo Drollas, deputy executive director of the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London, a consulting company founded by former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani.
Benchmark crude oil prices have rebounded since the OPEC president said on Monday the group may meet two months before the scheduled June 11 gathering in Doha, Qatar. Crude oil for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange today rose as much as 1.4 percent to US$28.40 a barrel and traded at US$28.34 a barrel at 11:48am Singapore time. Yesterday, it closed 0.1 percent higher.
Most OPEC members are ignoring their output limit, designed to keep the group's oil price at about US$25 a barrel. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agrees to cap supplies to keep prices high, though has no mechanism to enforce its decisions.
Today in Paris, four OPEC officials are scheduled to gather for an annual industry conference. Among the scheduled attendees are al-Attiyah, OPEC Secretary-General Alvaro Silva, Nigeria's Rilwanu Lukman and Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil.
US-led forces are in Baghdad and tightening control of Iraq, bringing closer a return of the country's oil exports.
British forces control most of Basra, the second-largest city, allied military officials have said.
An end to the conflict in Iraq may cause prices to drop below US$22 a barrel, the lower end of OPEC's target range, as world output climbs, said Ali Rodriguez, head of Venezuela's state oil company and OPEC's previous secretary-general, earlier this week.
OPEC is seeking prices at US$25 a barrel, al-Attiyah said on Monday. OPEC's oil price, an index of seven crude oils, slipped below that mark on Monday for the first time since last November, trading at US$24.91.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from