The price of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC basket of 14 crudes stood at $61.85 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $62.68 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.
The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).
However, the price is expected to stabilise as OPEC and others intensifies efforts toward oil output cut.
A few weeks, the organisation stated that: ‘’OPEC and participating Non-OPEC producing countries have started 2018 with an outstanding conformity level with their voluntary production adjustments, according to the OPEC-Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC).
‘’The JMMC’s Joint Technical Committee has reported that participating countries have in the month of January 2018, once again, broken their conformity record, achieving a level of 133%.
‘’The JMMC was established following OPEC’s 171st Ministerial Conference Decision of 30 November 2016, and the subsequent Declaration of Cooperation made at the joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Producing Countries’ Ministerial Meeting held on 10 December 2016 at which 11 (now 10) non-OPEC oil producing countries cooperated with the 13 (now 14) OPEC Member Countries in a concerted effort to accelerate the stabilization of the global oil market through voluntary production adjustments of around 1.8 million barrels per day.
‘’This solid performance during the first month of the second year of the Declaration of Cooperation continues a remarkable upward trend seen throughout 2017, and demonstrates the commitment of participating countries to the restoration of market stability, in the interests of producers, consumers and the global economy.
‘’The JMMC expressed satisfaction with the overall results, but noted the recent market volatility, stressing the importance of vigilance and the need to avoid complacency.
“The JMMC also noted that performance was not uniform and that conformity was boosted by several over-performing countries, and therefore urged all participating countries to continue and, to the extent possible, intensify their collective and individual efforts, in order to expedite the rebalancing of the oil market.
“Throughout 2018, the JMMC will focus on striving to maintain or exceed full conformity by all participating countries.’’