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World|business|November 30, 2016 / 04:54 PM
OPEC members meet in Vienna amid market optimism

AKIPRESS.COM - OPEC representatives began meeting here this morning in an attempt to finalize a deal that would limit oil output to prop up sagging crude prices, Wall Street Journal said.

Ahead of a meeting that comes after months of negotiations on an output agreement, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih—whose country is OPEC’s largest producer—said that if the cartel is able to reach an agreement, it will reach out to non-OPEC oil producers to try to secure their cooperation in limiting global production. Any final agreement “has to involve OPEC and non-OPEC,” he said.

If OPEC fails to finalize an agreement in Vienna, world oil prices would eventually recover from their current levels, he said. “I am not concerned about a no-agreement scenario,” he said.

Oil markets rallied Wednesday morning, with Brent crude futures in London jumping more than 5%, to more than $50 per barrel.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries expressed optimism that they could reach an agreement in the run-up to the meeting, which has become a test of OPEC’s ability to influence oil markets. At a time when crude is trading at less than half of 2014 prices, OPEC challenges including a Saudi hesitancy to sacrifice market share and reluctance by members including Iran, Iraq and Nigeria—which are recovering from output interruptions—to curb production have made a deal tough to finalize.

Iran’s oil minister Tuesday night he believed OPEC would clinch an agreement amid signs that his country and Iraq were looking for a compromise that satisfies Saudi Arabia’s demand for a broad-based cut.

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