This is coming as the Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mr. Mohammed Barkindo, will today in Paris, France, meet the oil ministers of Saudi Arabia and Algeria as part of the renewed efforts to secure a global agreement to cut crude oil production to ensure the recovery of prices.
Reports stipulates that Crude oil prices on Tuesday surged about four per cent after the United States inventory data showed a drop in stocks to nearly a two-decade low as crude imports into the US Gulf Coast slid last week due to Tropical Storm Hermine.
US crude stocks dropped 14.5 million barrels last week to 511.4 million barrels, the biggest weekly drop in stockpiles since January 1999, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Brent crude oil neared $50 a barrel for the first time in two weeks. It rose $1.84 to $49.82 a barrel, a 3.8 per cent gain, while the West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.83, or 4 per cent, to $47.33 per barrel.
In a related development, Reuters reported that Algeria would host today’s informal meeting with Saudi Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih and OPEC’s Barkindo.
A source at OPEC confirmed the meeting as part of a push for an output deal with producers battered by a glut-induced halving of oil prices over the past two years. “There is a strong move towards a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC members to at least freeze production,” an OPEC source told Reuters. “It seems we are going in this direction. But if we are going to freeze, we have to use secondary sources to gauge production levels. We can’t allow each country to use a different method,” the source said.
“This will be discussed in Algeria,” the source said. Algeria is hosting meetings of the International Energy Forum and OPEC on September 26-28. OPEC and Russia are expected to revive talks for a global deal on production in Algeria.
Source: ThisDay news paper
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