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OPEC unlikely to reach agreement – economist

OPEC unlikely to reach agreement – economist
Reported by Mohammed Abu Meleeh
The global oil and energy markets are anticipating the results of OPEC meeting especially after oil prices plunged by 25.8% in the last three months and 33% since June 20, according to OPEC data.
The meeting will be held today, November 27.
Dr. Ali Tawfiq Sadik, former director of the Economic Policy Institute at the Arab Monetary Fund, told Mubasher in a phone call that the meeting will not be easy this time.
“OPEC members will attend the meeting with demands different from each other,” he said. However, Sadik ruled out that the meeting will reach an agreement about decreasing oil output to save prices from decline.
He said the OPEC will have to hold another meeting to find a solution to the falling oil prices. The expert forecasted the prices to reach $60 per barrel which will be difficult to the budgets of several countries.
There are no indicators showing that Saudi Arabia can alone endure the burdens of falling oil prices, and this what happened several times before, Sadik said. He added that this what makes the situation very complicated.
Commenting on news that Iran will negotiate with Saudi Arabia over increasing Iran’s oil market share, the expert said this is illogical because Saudi Arabia is unlikely to give up a portion of its stake to another country in case it rejects to decrease oil output.
Sadik also ruled out news that Russia would intervene if OPEC fails to reach an agreement about decreasing output, indicating that Russia cannot take this step alone.
Russia is considered one of the world’s three biggest oil producers, as its output averages 10.5 million barrels per day, or 10% of the world’s production. However, it is not a member in the OPEC, according to data of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).



Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla