Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 11 / Trend A.Badalova /
International analysts believe OPEC will keep the oil production quotas unchanged at the upcoming meeting in Ecuador.
"OPEC members, in general, are satisfied with current oil prices, and therefore most likely will not change the oil production quota at a forthcoming meeting," Energy Security Analysis Inc (ESAI)
analyst Andrew Reed wrote Trend in an e-mail.
OPEC will hold the next meeting on Dec. 11 in Quito. To date, OPEC set oil production quotas at 24.84 million barrels per day. The cartel had decided not to change the quota for the sixth consecutive time at its last meeting in Vienna.
OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem al-Badri said the cartel is ready for an increase in the oil prices at $100 per barrel and will not change the policy in this case. He said the possible decision to change the quota may be taken only in imbalance of supply and demand in the market.
OPEC, which supplies about 35 percent of world oil demand, includes Algeria, Angola, Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
The U.S. State Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts oil production by OPEC to amount to 29.49 million barrels per day in the third quarter of 2010. In the fourth quarter, the figure is expected to reach 29.28 million barrels per day. OPEC's oil supply will increase by 0.4 million bpd to 29.79 million bpd in 2011. This year, the EIA predicts an increase in OPEC oil production at 0.29 million bpd to 29.39 million bpd.
Pioneer Astronautics Company President Robert Zubrin also believes that OPEC will not change the oil production quotas. The maintaining of oil production quotas by OPEC will lead to increase in the oil prices, Zubrin wrote Trend in an e-mail.
Zubrin said the oil prices this year will exceed $ 100 per barrel.
To date, world oil prices gradually approach $ 100 a barrel. Following the auction on Thursday, Dec. 9, January futures price for WTI on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $0.09 to $88.37 per barrel. On the London Stock Exchange, January futures price for Brent rose by $0.22 - up to $90.99 per barrel.
Reed said the average price for WTI in 2011 will amount to $ 85 per barrel. He does not exclude the probability of a rise in prices above $ 100 a barrel. Support of the securities market or the disruption of oil supplies can push the price up to that level.
EIA analyst Neil Gamson said a gradual increase in tension on world oil markets continues to support oil prices.The EIA expects the price of WTI crude oil to average about $84 per barrel this winter, more than $6 higher than the average price last winter. Projected WTI prices average $79 per barrel in 2010 and $86 per barrel in 2011, he told Trend.