BRASÍLIA: Brazil – a non-OPEC producer with a fast-growing oil output – will be joining other non-OPEC members, including Russia, at Saturday’s discussion with the cartel producers about possible cooperation on production freeze or cut, Bloomberg reports, quoting a text message by Brazil’s energy minister Fernando Bezerra Coelho Filho. Brazilian Oil and Gas Secretary Marcio Felix will be attending the Saturday meeting in Vienna, during which OPEC will seek support from producers outside the cartel on ways to lift chronically low crude oil prices.
Commenting on the chances of OPEC reaching a real deal on production freeze/cuts, Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said for Bloomberg in an e-mail: “I remain very optimistic because of the increasing signs of economic strains in Saudi and other key producers.” On Friday, an OPEC-only meeting started the talks in Vienna to try to hammer out the details of who’s cutting (or not) how much in order to ratchet down total OPEC output into the proposed production range of 32.5 million bpd-33 million bpd.
