Vienna (EFE) its oil production in the coming months.
The start of the 176th OPEC ministerial conference is scheduled for 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT) today, the secretariat of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reported this morning.
Amid considerable uncertainty about the evolution of the world economy and energy demand, the meeting of the so-called OPEC+, an alliance created in 2016 and led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has aroused great expectations in the crude oil markets.
Close taps or maintain current pumping level
Investors in the sector are waiting to find out if this group, responsible for 40% of world crude oil production, will close the taps for the third time since October, or leave their current level of pumping unchanged.
After maintaining a clear downward trend in recent weeks, “petroprices” ended the week on the rise, boosted by the approval in the United States of a law to raise the debt ceiling and thus prevent the country from entering into suspension of payments.
The barrel of Brent oil was left on Friday in London at 76.08 dollars, 2.45% more than at the close of the previous session, while the price of Texas intermediate oil (WTI) advanced 2.64%, up to $71.74, in New York.
These prices, although they have recovered some of the lost ground, are still well below those above 100 dollars/barrel that they were a year ago and do not satisfy OPEC+, which has been unsuccessfully trying for months to reach a level higher than the 80 dollars.
To do this, it agreed to withdraw 2 million barrels per day (mbd) from the market as of November 1 and in early April announced new voluntary cuts (that is, non-binding), for a total of 1.66 mbd, which came into effect. May 1st.
If fulfilled one hundred percent, these cuts represent about 4% of the world supply of crude oil and leave the share of the total production of the 20 countries committed to limiting their pumping (all OPEC+ members except Venezuela, Iran and Libya ) at 39.19 mbd.
On the other hand, OPEC has denied, without giving explanations, the accreditation to cover the ministerial conferences this weekend to various international media, including Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, which has sparked protests from press associations. austrian
On the other hand, journalists from other media, such as EFE, AFP, DPA or the Financial Times have received personal and “non-transferable” invitations, a way of proceeding not seen in the summits of the organization in the last quarter of a century.