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28 March 2024

Opec ready to meet if required

Published
By Reuters
 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries stands ready to call an extra meeting if needed, but has no plans to do so, Libya's top oil official said on Wednesday, adding prices would rise higher still.

Opec is not scheduled to meet to revise its output policy until September.

Its members have repeatedly said oil prices, which hit a record of $119.93 (Dh441.34) on Monday, were not the result of any lack of supply, so extra Opec crude would not bring the market lower.

"Before September, there may be a meeting. They could meet, but at this moment, there's no plan to do so, but of course, we stand ready for a meeting between now and September," Shokri Ghanem, head of Libya's National Oil Corporation, told reporters.

He predicted oil would continue to rise.

"The price is going to go higher, but I cannot put numbers on it," Ghanem said.

Earlier on Wednesday, another Opec member Kuwait also said Opec would act if it could.

"If Opec has an opportunity to do something for the market, it will do so," acting Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad al-Olaim said in Kuwait.

"If there's a requirement for Opec to meet, it will do so."

Echoing previous Opec comment, he said the level of oil prices was unrelated to the levels of supply and demand and was instead driven by factors such as speculation and the weak US dollar.

"It's not the fundamentals of the market that are leading the prices," the acting minister said. (Reuters)