DUBAI: Market fundamentals and high-cost crude producers, rather than Opec, are the ones that will set a fair price for oil in coming months, a UAE oil official said yesterday.
“The way I see it, it is the market which will dictate the oil price. Prices are driven by supply and demand ... marginal fields are going to set the (fair) price,” said Mubarak Al Ketbi, deputy director of the marketing and refining directorate at state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC).
“Opec is not a price setter. The market will set the price,” Ketbi told the Platts Middle East Crude Oil Summit in Dubai, declining to comment later on any specific oil price target for the UAE.
On Monday, the head of Kuwait’s state oil company predicted that oil prices were likely to remain around $65 for the next six to seven months, echoing the views of other Gulf Opec delegates who saw oil hovering around $65-70 for a few months before bouncing back to around $80. Reuters
NEW YORK: Brent prices were up yesterday after a 5-year low and five straight days of losses and US crude also rose as players sought a sustainable price for oil in a market haunted by oversupply concerns.
Brent was up 57 cents at $66.76 a barrel by 1653 GMT after falling as low as $65.29, its weakest since September 2009. Brent dropped 4.2 percent or $2.88 on Monday in its third-largest one-day loss this year. US crude was up 60 cents at $63.65 a barrel, after swinging between a high of $64.20 and low of $62.25. It fell 4.2 percent or $2.79 on Monday. Reuters
