OPEC meets in Vienna with the intention of cutting its crude production
The OPEC celebrates its last meeting of the year in Vienna today under the threat that an excessive supply of crude oil triggers the collapse of the price of the barrel, reason why it looks for a formula to reduce its supplies in the next months.
The 175th ministerial conference of the fifteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this Thursday will be followed tomorrow by a meeting with the nine non-member producers that two years ago adhered to the strategy of cutting back the offer to shore up the "Petroprecios".
After a committee of the group of 24 countries (nicknamed "OPEC +") warned of the risk that in 2019 the growth of extractions will exceed that of global demand, in the markets it is expected that a new limitation will be announced in the Viennese appointments. of supplies.
However, the plan does not like the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who warned on Wednesday that the world "neither wants nor needs" an increase in oil prices and urged OPEC to keep its current production unchanged.
Despite this, the OPEC + ministers agree on the need to restrict supply in the coming months, prolonging cooperation with their allies (including Russia and Mexico).
"I think there is going to be a cut," Ecuador's Minister of Hydrocarbons, Carlos Pérez, told reporters on arriving in Vienna last night, although he declined to estimate the volume of the likely reduction, while analysts ranked it between 1 and 1. , 5 million barrels per day.
The challenge in the meeting will be to achieve consensus on details of the measure, such as establishing the level of production that will be taken as a basis for subtracting barrels, or in what proportion each country must be reduced, as well as the term and the effective date.
Iran, for example, has made it clear that it will not accept any restriction of its national quota while the sanctions imposed by the United States are in effect.
The meeting is marked by the huge volatility of oil prices in recent months and the surprise decision of Qatar to leave OPEC on January 1, announced on Monday.
The barrel of Brent crude, which reached more than 86 dollars at the beginning of October, stood yesterday at 61.69 dollars at the close of the market in London.
On the other hand, the conference is expected to confirm that the Venezuelan oil minister and president of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Major General Manuel Quevedo, will assume the rotating and annual presidency of OPEC next year.
