São Paulo – A conference of North African countries will discuss the effects of the Libyan scenario on the regional oil market. The meeting is taking place in the Algerian capital, Algiers, from Sunday (7th) to Tuesday (9th), the African news agency Panapress has quoted Algeria’s state-owned company Sonatrach as saying.
Over 450 hydrocarbon industry specialists should convene to address the issue. In addition to Libya’s oil production, they will address the plummeting fuel prices around the globe and their impact on the economies of oil producing countries.
Oil prices have fallen to their lowest levels since 2009 as a result of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec)’s decision not to alter its 30-million-barrel-a-day production target. In October, the Opec countries produced 30.97 million barrels per day. The Opec was expected to decide to scale down production at a meeting last week in Vienna, Austria, to stop prices from diving further.
The market saw Opec’s decision as an attempt at rendering the production of oil whose extraction is more costly, such as the United States’ oil shale-based product, unfeasible. The US, a non-Opec country, is stepping up its shale-based production. The Gulf Cooperation Countries want the production target to be kept the same, since they are able to produce the commodity at a very low cost.
Algeria, an Opec member, produces 1.13 million barrels of oil per day. Libya is struggling to resume producing oil as a consequence of rebel attacks on oilfields. One of the topics to be addressed during the conference is Algeria’s potential pacification role in Libya.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum