OPEC Forecasts Spike In Crude Oil Prices By Second Quarter Of 2015

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has predicted that crude oil prices would spike in the second quarter of 2015.

The Secretary General of OPEC, Abdalla Salem El- Badri, who made the prediction at the 19th Middle East Oil & Gas Conference, stated that the global oil market which was oversupplied by about two million barrels per day, should return to balance during the second half of the year.

He said since 2008 non-OPEC supply had leaped by almost 6m b/d. In contrast, OPEC’s production has been fairly steady at around 30m b/d, adding that oil demand in 2014 is weaker than originally predicted at the beginning of that year.

El-Badri said: “There is no doubt that the last nine months have been one of those intermittent periods of volatility, after several years of stability.”

“While prices will no doubt rebound, as they have done lately, it is clear that the industry is currently witnessing a landscape that is shifting the global oil industry.”

He further observed that the global economy offered both optimistic and pessimistic indicators, as OPEC saw global economic growth in 2016 at 3.4 per cent, compared