Comments
Oil was mixed in the Asian trade on Wednesday ahead of an OPEC ministerial meeting due to take place later in Vienna, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, gained seven cents to $99.16 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for July delivery lost 48 cents to $116.30.
The 12-nation Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to discuss whether the oil cartel should raise the production quotas to aid the struggling global economic recovery and compensate for hobbled Libyan output.
OPEC can pump more oil “if the market needs” it, the Angolan Oil Minister, Mr Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos, told reporters in Vienna on the eve of the gathering.
The intergovernmental group, which accounts for an estimated 40 per cent of global oil supplies, will make its latest announcement after a regular meeting in Vienna, where the cartel is based.
OPEC has held its production target at 24.84 million barrels per day since January 2009, but the cartel is pumping above that limit to compensate for the lost supplies from Libya, which has been rocked by violent unrest.
Consumer nations have called on OPEC to pump more crude amid concerns that current high oil prices — with Brent oil holding stubbornly above $100 per barrel — could derail the fragile global economic recovery.
A report by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday showed US crude stocks declined at the sharpest pace since December, giving rise to hopes that demand is picking up in the world’s biggest oil consumer.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.