Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 2
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:
OPEC won't be able to agree with other oil suppliers on decreasing oil prices, as there is no trust between the sides, and each of the parties will play by its own rules, believes Svyatoslav Pavlyuk, a Ukrainian expert on energy efficiency.
Pavlyuk, who heads the Kiev office of the 'Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine' Association, told Trend Feb. 2 that oil producers began to supply oil at low prices in order to take additional market segments.
"Thus, market shares have been violated, and other oil suppliers will fight for them by reciprocally lowering the prices," added Pavlyuk.
In addition, as he noted, new players have appeared in the market, in particular Iran and the US, the latter removing its 40-year-old oil export ban.
Iran is re-joining the oil market, as nuclear-related international sanctions on the country have been lifted.
Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency's experts issued a final report on Iran's nuclear program. The document confirmed that Iran fulfilled its obligations as part of the deal on its nuclear program.
Afterwards, the EU and the US confirmed the lifting of economic and financial sanctions on Iran.
On Dec. 18, 2015, President Barack Obama signed a draft US budget for 2016 fiscal year, removing the US oil exports ban, introduced 40 years ago.
The March futures price for Brent oil was $33.57, and for WTI oil - $30.87 per barrel on Feb. 2.
OPEC's output will stand at 31.978 million barrels per day in 2016 and 31.152 million barrels per day in 2017, according to a report from Goldman Sachs.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has said that oil supplies by OPEC countries stood at 31.65 million barrels per day in late 2015.
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