OPEC Secretary-General Warns Against Undermining Oil Industry Investments

Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham Al-Ghais, said today, Thursday, that the International Energy Agency should “be very careful about further (attempts to) undermine” investments in the oil industry, investments that are seen as an important issue for global economic growth. .

He added that OPEC and the “OPEC Plus” alliance do not target oil prices, but rather focus on the fundamental factors in the market. He added that “pointing fingers at oil exporters and their allies and distorting their actions will lead to counterproductive results.”

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced today, Thursday, that the “OPEC Plus” alliance does not see a need for an additional reduction in oil production, despite the fact that Chinese demand was less than expected, but he stressed that the group is always able to adjust its policy.

“In my opinion, the market is now balanced, taking into account the decisions that were taken earlier, as well as the cuts that we have made, and the cuts that we have seen in other countries,” Novak said.

He also said that Russia had reached its target level of oil production this month after announcing a production cut of 500,000 barrels per day, or 5% of its production, until the end of the year.

Russia is a member of the “OPEC Plus” alliance of oil-producing countries, which announced a reduction in the total production of member states by 1.16 million barrels per day earlier this month, a move that the United States described as an unwise measure.

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price stability

In terms of markets, oil prices stabilized today, Thursday, after their decline yesterday, Wednesday, reflected the supportive impact of OPEC’s sudden production cut this month.

By 10:33 GMT, Brent crude was trading at $77.72 a barrel, up 0.04%.

US West Texas Intermediate crude also rose 0.01%, to $74.31 a barrel.

Prices stabilized after Novak’s deputy described the oil markets today, Thursday, as balanced.

This comes after the drop in oil prices by about 4%, yesterday, Wednesday, after the growing fears of a recession in the United States, the largest economy in the world, overshadowed the decline in US crude stocks more than expected.