Energy ministers from both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dodged questions Tuesday about whether OPEC will extend the cartel`s oil production cuts. saying the decision will come at a planned meeting in Vienna later this week.
OPEC agreed in September 2016 to cut daily production across the 14-nation organization to 32.5 million barrels of oil a day. Russia and other non-OPEC nations also agreed to cut their production. hoping to boost prices weakened by oversupply in the market.
Khalid al-Falih. the Saudi energy minister. told journalists they`d need to `wait` for OPEC`s meeting Thursday before giving a speech at a petrochemical conference Tuesday in Dubai. Al-Falih later waved away journalists` shouted questions as he left the event with Emirati Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei.
Al-Mazrouei later spoke to journalists and teasingly said it `wasn`t fair` for them to ask questions ahead of the meeting about what would happen.
`Hopefully. we will reach a solution that will be beneficial to the market and the organization.` he said.
Both OPEC and non-OPEC members are expected to continue the cuts into 2018 to help keep prices rallying.
Crude oil sold for over $100 a barrel in the summer of 2014 before bottoming out below $30 a barrel in January 2016. That fall largely came from a boom in U.S. shale oil and countries like Saudi Arabia keeping their production high to hold onto market share. Once-sanctioned Iran also re-entered the global energy market in 2015 after its nuclear deal with world powers.
Oil prices now sit around $60 a barrel. in part over fears of new instability in the Mideast after Saudi Arabia`s mass arrest of princes. business leaders and others. as well as its tensions with Iran. However. even that boost in price still isn`t enough to salve many of the hurting. oil-dependent economies in the Gulf and elsewhere.
