Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu is in Algiers, Algeria where major oil producers will hold informal talks beginning from today.
The minister on arrival told reporters, “Surely there will be agreement to freeze production.” He had said earlier that it was too early to comment on whether Nigeria would agree to an output freeze.
Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Non-OPEC will meet on the sidelines of an energy forum in Algiers to revive a global deal to stabilise oil output levels.
Nigeria has previously supported efforts to stabilise the oil market and rebound oil price as well as committed to a production freeze.
Attempts by OPEC and non-OPEC oil exporters to reach a pact on freezing output in April and June this year so as to boost oil prices failed because Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer, declined to participate.
Algeria’s state news agency Algeria Press Service quoted its oil minister, Noureddine Boutarfa saying that there will be no failure of the informal OPEC meeting adding that all the OPEC countries agree to stabilize prices but they would have to find a system approved by all.
According to him, the current level of prices makes the OPEC countries loose between $300 and $500 million every day, amounts that could be invested in the oil research and exploitation and new investments as well.
Boutarfa said that the OPEC members will have to choose between two possible ways in case they come to a consensus: either they will decide to convene a forthwith extraordinary meeting, or they will decide to refer the agreement to the upcoming meeting in November in Vienna (Austria).
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Credit: All Africa