Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 2
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:
The decline in world oil prices is inevitable, believes Oksana Korotkevich, an energy expert with the Kyiv Institute of Socio-Economic Studies.
"From this point of view, OPEC's upcoming meeting with other oil suppliers is extremely important," Korotkevich told Trend Feb. 2.
Further noting that oil is also a part of politics, she said both oil prices and countries' budgets will depend on how much the sides are able to come to an agreement and what decisions they take.
"Today, many countries are reconsidering their budget scenarios," she added.
Korotkevich said Russia's Gazprom has been already testing a budget scenario at an oil price of $20-25 per barrel, as the price less than $20 will be a critical point for many countries.
The expert also said that at present the main task is to keep the price at $35 per barrel, adding it isn't worth talking about its increasing up to $50 this year.
Saying that today the market is overfilled with supplies, Korotkevich noted that oil is used as a tool for undermining countries' economies.
Analysts believe that OPEC's oil output will stand at 31.978 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2016 and 32.152 mbpd in 2017.
OPEC countries' oil supplies amounted to 31.65 mbpd as of 2015, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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