(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Oil prices have started to stabilise around current levels of $60 a barrel and demand is showing signs of improving in Asia and other regions, a senior Gulf Opec delegate said yesterday.
The comments indicate that the core Gulf members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are showing no sign of wavering in their strategy to focus on market share rather than cutting output, despite concerns from other members about falling oil revenue. "Oil prices seem to stabilise around the current level ... there are a lot of indications showing that demand is growing," the senior Gulf Opec delegate said. "The market is stabilising as well as prices," the delegate said, adding that $60 a barrel is "okay for now."
Oil traded higher near $60 a barrel yesterday, up more than 30 percent from a near six-year low close of $45 on January 13. Prices collapsed from $115 in June due to oversupply, in a decline that deepened after Opec refused to cut output.
The delegate said oil demand was showing signs of recovering in Asia, emerging economies, Latin America and the United States. It is expected to grow more strongly in the second half of 2015 as the global economy picks up, helping to absorb excess crude supply in the market, he added. At Opec's last meeting in November, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies argued that the group needed to ride out lower prices in order to defend market share against shale oil and other competing supply sources.
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