Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 4
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Twelve country-members of OPEC, during the 164th meeting in Vienna, have agreed to keep the current oil production quote unchanged at 30 million barrels per day, Fars news agency reported.
Mustafa Jassim Mohammad Al-Shamali, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil of Kuwait, Chairman of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and President of the Conference spoke at the meeting.
"In the six months that have passed since the Conference met here in Vienna in May, we have seen an increasingly-stable oil market, which is a reflection of the gradual recovery in the world economy," he said at the opening of the meeting.
"This positive development stems mainly from a healthy performance in the United States, in addition to the Eurozone countries returning to growth."
Al-Shamali's speech was published on OPEC's official website.
Elsewhere in his speech, he said that emerging economies are expected to follow this trend, led by China and Brazil.
He added that global economic growth in 2014 is projected to increase to 3.5 per cent from 2.9 per cent in 2013.
"World oil demand growth is forecast to mirror this economic improvement, rising by one million barrels per day over 2013," Al-Shamali said.
"Non-OPEC oil supply is also expected to rise in 2014 by 1.2 million barrels per day. This will be mainly due to the anticipated growth in North America and Brazil."
He underscored that the OPEC Reference Basket has remained stable over the past half-year, averaging over $105 per barrel from June to November.