According to the decision made by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, oil production quotas have not been changed and still amount to 30 million barrels per day. As an official from Saudi Arabia said, later confirmed by OPEC Secretary General, quotas would remain at the same level until December 4, the date of the next OPEC conference.
Abdallah Salem el-Badri, OPEC Secretary General, said that the four years of oil prices exceeding 100 dollars per barrel were highly profitable. Now, the trend has turned downwards. “The reality now is that we cannot have this $100 (a barrel) anymore. This is a fact. We have less value for our barrels”, he added.
Despite the OPEC claim, “black gold” increased in price initially. An hour later, though, price quotes for Brent crude oil returned to the previous level of 62 dollars.
Since summer 2014, oil fell in price by twice as much; the prices fell even lower than 50 dollars last December.
Some experts believe that the main factors that explain reduced demand for the traditional energy source are the global economy’s slow growth and the impact of the shale gas boom.
