BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas
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Ibe Kachikwu, Nigerian minister of state for petroleum and current president of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, conference predict that the demand for crude oil will rise significantly next year
THE Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has predicted that the demand for crude oil would rise in 2016. Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources and president, OPEC conference, who dropped the hint said the demand for OPEC crude oil would rise by 1.2 million barrels per day to average 30.8 million barrels per day for the year 2016 leading to a more balanced market.
Kachikwu who is also head of Nigeria’s delegation to the 168th ordinary OPEC meeting made the assertion while addressing the OPEC ministers’ conference in Austria, Vienna. He said that a balanced and stable market would be of crucial importance in the years ahead to ensure continued investment in the industry as it geared up to meet the world’s burgeoning energy needs.
The OPEC conference president stated that the conference was centred on enhancing market stability which would benefit all stakeholders and contribute to global economic growth, which could be achieved only through the concerted efforts of all stakeholders.
“Dialogue and collaboration with consumers, non-OPEC producers, oil companies and investors are essential in reaching our common goal of a more orderly oil market. In 2015, we have seen positive examples between OPEC and Non-OPEC countries and the Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable held in Qatar in November. OPEC has also held bilateral dialogues with Russia and China this year, and later this month the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue would have its first meeting,” he said.
According to Kachikwu the world oil demand in 2015 grew by 1.5 million barrels per day, up from 1 million barrels per day in 2014. “Next year, we foresee growth of 1.3 million barrels per day to average 94.1 million barrels per day, with most of this growth coming from non-OECD countries,” he said.
According to him, as far as supply is concerned, the non-OPEC countries would continue to see significant reduced production growth as compared to past years. “In fact, in 2016, we anticipate a contraction in non-OPEC oil supply,” the Nigerian petroleum minister said, adding that the downward trend stemmed mainly from the impact of investment cutbacks and the drop in US tight oil output, which had been declining since May 2015.
He said this was clearly illustrated by the drop in the number of newly drilled wells and the reduction by half of active drilling wells. Kachikwu insisted that the OPEC remained committed to do its part in protecting the environment and supporting sustainable development.
Similarly, he said that the organisation and its member countries were taking part in the climate change negotiations in Paris with the goal of full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Kachikwu, as the president of the OPEC conference, also welcomed Sudirman Said, minister of energy and mineral resources of Indonesia, who represented his country to reactivate its OPEC membership after a seven-year suspension.
— Dec 14, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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