EMEA News
OPEC Will Maintain Output Even If Price Reaches $20
Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi has said that even if the price of oil were to hit $20 per barrel, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would still not cut its production output, the BBC reports.
"As a policy for OPEC - and I convinced OPEC of this ... it is not in the interest of OPEC producers to cut their production, whatever the price is," he said, adding prices may never recover to the $100 per-barrel-highs that oil had previously reached.
"Whether it goes down to $20, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant."
Other OPEC producers have reportedly predicted that prices will return to $70-80 per barrel by the end of 2015 as economic conditions improve.
"Overall, we see this as a shot in the arm for the global economy," said International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard.
Since its peak this summer, the price of oil has tumbled 46 percent due to an oversupply of product glutting the markets.
In November, OPEC triggered a substantial dive in oil prices after announcing that it would maintain its production cap of 30 million barrels per day.
