(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The global oil market should be "more balanced" in the second half of the year, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry HE Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada said yesterday before an Opec meeting widely expected to leave output unchanged.
"The last nine months or so have been particularly challenging for the oil industry," al-Sada said in Vienna ahead of Friday's semi-annual meeting.
"However, there are a number of reasons to feel optimistic about the general situation going forward... There should be a more balanced market in the second half of this year."
Al-Sada, speaking at a two-day Opec seminar involving industry figures, said however that the market was "not out of the woods yet" and that "still a lot of uncertainty" remained.
Meanwhile, Opec is set to carry on pumping oil nearly flat-out for months more, content that last year's shock market therapy has revived demand and knocked back growing competition.
With oil prices having stabilised at around $65 a barrel, some $20 above their January lows, there's little appetite within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to modify production limits or address Iran's request to give it more room in the market as sanctions ease.
"There is consensus among Gulf Opec countries, and others, to keep the ceiling unchanged," a senior Gulf Opec delegate told Reuters late on Tuesday after an informal meeting of the four core Gulf Arab Opec members earlier in the day.
Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said there was "optimism and general acceptance with the current situation".
The group meets on Friday following a two-day seminar featuring the chief executives of the world's biggest energy groups, including BP and Exxon, companies whose fortunes have been abruptly altered by Opec's decision to abandon efforts aimed at sustaining oil prices at more than $100 a barrel in favour of defending market share.
"Nobody wants to rock the boat," the Gulf source said. "The meeting is expected to be smooth sailing."
Opec secretary-general Abdullah al-Badri said yesterday that it would likely be a brief meeting. "Everything is very clear," al-Badri said.
That marks a change in tone from Opec's last meeting in November 2014, when Venezuela and others mounted an unsuccessful bid to convince Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to tighten the taps on supply.
Instead, Saudi Arabia laid out its new approach, saying it will no longer consider cutting output without the cooperation of non-Opec producers such as Russia. This time, calls for collaboration have been muted as most ministers look forward to a more balanced second half.
"You can see that I'm not stressed, I'm happy," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Monday.
Opec members are producing more than 1mn bpd above the group's collective ceiling of 30mn bpd, with Saudi output at its highest in at least three decades, a Reuters survey showed, leaving the group little room to pump more.
There may still be some choppy moments. Iran is seeking to clear space for its gradual return to the oil market after years in which Western sanctions halved its oil exports to as little as 1mn bpd.
"If Opec members want to keep prices at the same level, we expect them to make room for Iranian oil," Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Shana news agency. But he told an Opec seminar in Vienna he was confident that other producers would "coordinate and consider" Iran's return, which would "not have a negative impact" on the market.
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