‘Dotun Akintomide with Agency Report
OPEC Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo had said on Friday that the cartel was not seeking to artificially drive oil prices higher in spite of such claims made by U.S. President Donald Trump.
It would be recalled that the price of crude oil Wednesday rose to $72 per barrel, its highest in more than three years, after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles over Riyadh, worsening tensions in the Middle East.
Earlier on Friday, Trump wrote on Twitter that the oil prices were “artificially very high,” accusing OPEC of being behind it.
However, the OPEC boss dispelled his tweet stating clearly that there was no such mechanism in play
“We do not have any price objective not as OPEC and not in this joint endeavor with non-OPEC,” Barkindo told reporters, commenting on Trump’s statement.
The OPEC chief added that the organization had invited the US shale oil producers to take part in its seminar in June in Vienna.
“We have invited them for our seminar in June in Vienna … We in OPEC pride ourselves as friends of the U.S., who have vested interest in their growth, development and prosperity,” Barkindo said.
The Declaration of Cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing countries on oil output cuts, which was signed in December 2016 and implemented since 2017, “rescued the oil industry from imminent collapse, and is now on course to restore stability on a sustainable basis in the interest of producers, consumers, and the global economy,” Barkindo pointed out.
In an effort to stabilize global oil prices, OPEC and several non-OPEC oil producers reached a deal in Vienna in 2016, agreeing to cut oil output by a total of 1.8 million barrels per day.
Non-OPEC states promised to jointly reduce oil output by 558,000 barrels per day, with Russia pledging to cut production by 300,000 barrels daily.
In late May, the parties to the agreement agreed to extend the deal until the end of March 2018.
Another extension was made in late November that would make the deal remain in effect until the end
of 2018.
