From Bloomberg via ZeroHedge:
Oil Tries & Fails To Reach $45 Overnight - Should Investors Take OPEC Seriously Anymore?
...Here is Bloomberg's summary of the latest publicly stated positions of key countries involved in talks that may result in a freeze or reduction in oil supply:
- OPEC SECRETARIAT
- OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo says Russia is “on board” with Algiers accord
- “I have heard from the highest quarters in Moscow that Russia is on board,” Barkindo says Monday in Abu Dhabi
- NOTE: OPEC announced a plan on Sept. 28 in Algiers that aims to limit OPEC’s crude supply to 32.5m-33m b/d; Barkindo is trying to get non-OPEC producers to contribute to effort ahead of OPEC’s ministerial conference at end of this month
- RUSSIA (non-OPEC):
- Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Oct. 26 that Russia’s prefered position is an output freeze rather than a cut; any plan would last a limited time, maybe 6 months, he said
- Russia pumped at a post-Soviet record of 11.2m b/d in October while exports jumped in several OPEC nations
- U.A.E.:
- Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei says Monday in Adu Dhabi he thinks oil market is “at the bottom of this cycle” and glut insignificant compared to start of 2016
- IRAQ:
- Oil Minister Jabber Al-Luaibi said Oct. 23 in Baghdad that Iraq should be exempt from cutting production because it’s fighting Islamic State
- The state marketing agency on Oct. 30 released detailed data on 26 fields plus a single figure for Kurdish region in bid to persuade analysts that OPEC secondary-source production estimates have been inaccurate
- IRAN:
- Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia on Oct. 24 said Iran will “go along with” OPEC goal of balancing market, IRNA reported. Didn’t specify what actions Iran might take
- Iranian officials previously said the nation is pumping more than secondary source estimates show, and have argued it should be allowed to produce 4m b/d or more
- SAUDI ARABIA:
- Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said Oct. 23 that Gulf nations were working with Russia and others to stabilize market; he mentioned possibility of either a freeze or a cut in an Oct. 19 speech in London
- Former Saudi minister Ali Al-Naimi said Nov. 4 in London that OPEC’s late-2014 market-share strategy has worked and OPEC cannot cut production alone
- Al-Naimi no longer sets nation’s oil policy
