Standup9ja - OPEC loses $1trn to oil price fluctuation- Barkindo
The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr Mohammed Barkindo, on Monday disclosed that the
organisation lost $1 trillion to dwindling oil prices.
Barkindo, who is in Nigeria on a four-day working visit,
said this at a world news conference organised by the Minster of State for
Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu.
According to him, the downturn, which lasted from 2014 to
January 2016, meant that OPEC member countries could not earn about $1 trillion
of oil revenue.
He said the industry further lost $1 trillion in terms of
deferred projects and outright cancellation of projects across its entire value
chain.
“We need consistent investments in order to maintain current
production and take care of reserves and secure future supplies,” he said.
He said it was agreed that non-members of OPEC be invited to
build a platform of 24 producing countries to agree on a joint supply agreement
seeking to adjust about 1.8 million barrels a day.
“For the first time in history we were able to build a
platform of 24 producing countries within six months in order to address the
stock overhang which has been the variable to the supply equation that had sent
this market off balance since 2014.
“Today, I can confidently report that those three historic
events have altogether changed the energy landscape and turned a historic page
in oil for good.
“We are on the course of pulling this industry out of the
worst recession that we have entered to restore stability to the market on a
sustainable basis that will allow investments to come back on a continuous
basis,” he said.
He commended the government for staying afloat during the
price-crash, calling the period “the worst energy circle in recent memory’’.
“ Some of us who have been around for quite a while have
witnessed all these five circles and it is a consensus in terms of the gravity
of this circle, prices have crashed by over 80 per cent from the fall of 2014
to January 2016.
“How you survived as a government and as institutions under
this great industry remains a miracle.
“I visited all other countries and I have seen how they
struggle but you have weathered the storm, I think the worst is behind us.’’
He said the agreements reached by the cartel and non-OPEC
members in Algiers and Vienna during their meetings in November and December
2016 were lifesaving measures as they had overcome market challenges. (NAN)
No comments:
Post a Comment