To cut or retain market share is Opec’s dilemma | GulfNews.com

To cut or retain market share is Opec’s dilemma | GulfNews.com:



"As ministers from the 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) prepare to fly to Vienna for their 166th meeting next week, the quiet consultations and soundings have already begun. Opec must decide whether and how to respond to the 30 per cent decline in oil prices since the middle of June, in what may be the organisation’s toughest test in five years.



Slower oil demand growth and rising competition from non-Opec suppliers, especially US shale producers, pose a common threat to all the organisation’s members. But formulating a common response will be hard because the slowdown in demand and the shale revolution have had a very different impact from member to member.



Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE are producing and exporting close to their highest-ever levels of crude, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. All three have built large financial reserves so they could weather a prolonged period of lower prices without too much effect on their day-to-day government operations."



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