Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has stated that the days of $50 a barrel of oil are coming, regardless of the recent disagreements among members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). He also said he will continue to push for production freeze consensus.
“The minister for energy in Qatar and the president of OPEC is leading that pact and there is a lot of conversation going on and there’s a lot of consensus building on the issue of the freeze. Saudi Arabia and Russia are aligned on the issue of a freeze, so I think the chances are very high.”
“I am certainly hoping for prices in the range of $45 to $50. I’m hoping a consensus can be built and that parties can begin to work together across the board, not just OPEC members, but also non-OPEC members,which is what the gulf states and most of us have pushed for. With that, you’ll begin to see upward movement in those prices,” Kachikwu stated.
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, has voiced strong resistance about a production cut, but has given his country’s support to a freeze. The country is now one of those pushing for a production freeze among both OPEC and non-OPEC members.
“Freeze is the beginning of a process, and that means if we can get all the major producers to agree not to add additional balance, then this high inventory we have now will probably decline in due time. It’s going to take time,” Naimi said at the annual IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, recently.
“It is not like cutting production; that is not going to happen because not many countries are going to deliver even if they say they will cut production – they will not deliver. So there is no sense in wasting our time seeking production cuts,” he added.
