Reuters - OPEC officials
approved on Monday a document outlining the exporter group's long-term
strategy, in a sign its members are making progress in ironing out
differences
over how and when to manage production levels and, ultimately, oil prices.
The approval
of the document has been repeatedly postponed with OPEC price hawks such as
Algeria and Iran saying the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
should be prepared to defend oil prices by cutting production.
But OPEC's de
facto leader Saudi Arabia has been arguing since the end of 2014 that oil prices
should be determined by the market and OPEC should not cut output to make room
for higher-cost producers.
However, since
the last time the long-term strategy was debated and rejected by OPEC officials
in May, the kingdom's position has shifted and OPEC in September agreed to
limit its supplies to boost prices - its first such decision since 2008.
With veteran
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi replaced by Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia has
signaled its willingness to return to managing the market and reducing
production levels arguing that otherwise global investments could drop too
steeply and cause a new super-spike in oil prices.
On Monday,
four OPEC sources said the OPEC board of governors, which has been discussing
an update of the long-term strategy since 2015, met in Vienna and approved the
latest version.
"It's
approved," one of the sources said, adding the meeting "went
smoothly."
"Yes,
finally," another source said, adding that only "cosmetic"
changes had been made.
Executing real
production cuts still remains a challenge for OPEC - on Friday its officials
failed to reach a compromise after hours of talks amid objections by Iran.
But other OPEC
officials including Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo remain optimistic a
final deal on supply cuts will be agreed when oil ministers meet next on Nov.
30.
Reuters
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