Opec, the oil exporters’ group, has said it will meet informally in September as it grapples with a renewed dip in crude prices since its last meeting in June.
Representatives would gather on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum biennial conference for ministers in Algeria in late September, the body said in a statement yesterday.
“Opec continues to monitor developments closely, and is in constant deliberations with all member states on ways and means to help restore stability and order to the oil market,” it said.
At the ministerial meeting in June, officials agreed to maintain their strategy of not cutting production. A re-balancing was under way, they said.
Prices had been on the rise since falling below $30 a barrel at the start of the year. By mid-June Brent crude was above $50 a barrel amid production outages in Canada, Libya and Nigeria.
But renewed weakness, in part as a result of some of this production coming back on the market, has prompted some Opec members to push again for a production freeze.
In April a Doha meeting with non-Opec countries did not result in output curbs. “The last try a few months ago failed spectacularly,” said analysts at JBC Energy.
The latest attempt, they said, was “indicative of the significant pressure some of these producers are under”.
After falling towards $40 a barrel last week, Brent, the international crude benchmark, edged $1.12 higher yesterday to $45.36 a barrel.
Hedge funds and other money managers have cut bets on rising prices to the lowest level this year, data from Intercontinental Exchange show. After an eighth consecutive week of cuts, net long positions were down 28,148 contracts to 260,388 in the week to August 2, while short positions grew.
Higher production from Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Libya could push Opec production past 34m barrels a day next year, said David Hufton at PVM, a broker. “These are not scenarios that add up to higher oil prices,” he said. “Price recovery in 2017 is not a shoo-in.”
Opec’s president remained positive about the market’s direction. “Higher demand is expected in the third and fourth quarters,” said Mohammed Bin Saleh, who is Qatar’s energy minister.
The price decline was temporary and the result of “weaker refinery margins [and] inventory overhang”, the group said in a statement.
