BAGHDAD: Now is the right time for OPEC to reach an agreement on oil output, and crude prices may fall if its members fail to take a decision when they meet next week in Algiers, Iraq’s governor to the producer group said.
Conditions in the oil market are better than in April when members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries tried without success to strike a deal with other producers, including Russia, to stabilize markets, Falah Al-Amri said at an energy event in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Countries including Iran have boosted output and reached their targets, and current oil prices are not good for producers, he said. “This is the right time” for an agreement, Al-Amri said. Crude is unlikely to rise above $50 a barrel unless OPEC reduces production, he said.
OPEC’s 14 members will hold talks on Sept. 28 in Algiers to address a global supply glut that led prices to drop by more than half from their 2014 peak. They may discuss proposals to cap production along with Russia and other countries outside the group. The planned talks signal that OPEC may reconsider a Saudi-led policy the group adopted in 2014 that lets members boost output to defend their market share. Benchmark Brent crude was 1.6 percent higher at $47.57 a barrel at 4:51 p.m. in Dubai.
