Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi met with the ambassadors of Russia and Norway to discuss oil market “stability” as prices traded near a six-year low.
They “reviewed the importance of the international oil market stability, and the increase of joint investments in the sectors of oil and mining,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Oil fell almost 50 percent last year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, lead by Saudi Arabia, resisted calls to cut output amid a surge of U.S. crude production. Saudi Arabia was the world’s biggest oil producer in 2013, according to BP Plc data. Non-OPEC member Russia was second and Norway, also not in OPEC, was the largest producer in Western Europe. Brent crude traded at $49.20 a barrel at 12:38 p.m. New York time after falling to $45.19 on Jan. 13, the lowest since March 2009.
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A worker looks out over the illuminated petroleum cracking complex at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez oil refinery in Russia. (Bloomberg) |
“Norway and Russia are concerned about the low oil price and how it’s affecting their domestic economies,” Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC, an energy consulting firm, said by phone from Houston. “The Saudis have already said they are not reducing their production levels. If you want to see higher oil prices, don’t count on the Saudis.”
Saudi Arabia won’t balance global crude markets on its own even as prices fall “too low for everybody” and threaten the investment needed to meet long-term demand, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. Chief executive officer Khalid Al-Falih said at a conference in Riyadh Tuesday as London-based Energy Aspects warned that non-OPEC crude is the key cause of an oversupplied market. Al-Naimi has said producers outside of the group should trim their output first.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its production target unchanged at a Nov. 27 meeting, seeking to defend market share rather than support prices as it keeps pumping close to 30 million barrels a day.
OPEC is working on an alliance with non-OPEC countries to stabilize prices, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro said on state television Monday.
In Tuesday’s meeting, al-Naimi met separately with Norway’s Rolf Willy Hansen and Russia’s Oleg Ozerov as well as Pekka Voutilainen, ambassador of Finland, SPA said. (Bloomberg)
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