Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 2
By Fatih Karimov- Trend:
The downward trend of Iran's crude oil price continued on the global markets in the week to Dec. 25, Iranian Oil Ministry's official SHANA news agency reported Jan. 2.
Each barrel of Iran's Light oil was sold for $31.07 in the mentioned week, $0.67 less compared to the preceding week.
The price of Heavy oil also decreased by $0.64 per barrel and stood at $28.4 in the same period.
The average price of Iran's Light oil in 2015 was $50.34, meanwhile the average Heavy oil price totaled $48.28.
Iran last saw record low prices in 1998 when its oil was traded in markets at below $10 per barrel.
The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $31.32 during the week to Dec. 25, $0.78 less compared to the preceding week.
OPEC's oil basket (ORB) is currently made up of the Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).
The basket price stood at $ 31.45 a barrel on Dec. 30, meanwhile it was traded for $31.58 the previous day, according to the OPEC Secretariat calculations.
OPEC's latest monthly report, published Dec. 10 said the cartel's total crude oil production in November rose by 0.23 million barrels per day (mb/d) to 31. 695 mb/d, about 1.7 mb/d more than the ceiling level.
This is while according to OPEC's own evaluation the demand for the organization's oil is 29.4 million barrels per day for 2015.
In 2016, required OPEC crude is projected at 30.8 mb/d, representing an increase of 1.4 mb/d from the estimated 2015 level.
In its recent summit on December 4, the OPEC failed to put a new ceiling to its output.