OPEC+ refused to accelerate production increase, and US oil price hit a seven-year high |
[ Time:2021-10-07 | Hits:255 ] |
| According to British media reports on October 4, the US White House called on relevant parties to help deal with the increasingly serious global energy crisis, but the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies ignored it and refused to accelerate the plan to increase crude oil production. After that, US oil prices rose to their highest level in seven years. Europe and Asia are deeply disturbed by the tight energy supply, which has pushed the prices of natural gas and coal to an all-time high. Meanwhile, oil prices have been rising steadily as the world economy recovers from the abyss of COVID-19. However, "OPEC +" said on Monday that it would adhere to the gradual production increase plan formulated this summer, that is, to increase oil production by 400000 barrels per day per month, despite warnings that the gap between supply and demand would continue to expand. The decision of "OPEC +" is likely to exacerbate tensions between the United States and other large energy consuming countries and the oil producing group. The United States and other countries worry that rising energy costs may undermine their own economic recovery process; "OPEC +" controls more than half of the global oil supply. After the "OPEC +" meeting, the price of West Texas Intermediate base crude oil, the benchmark crude oil of the United States, rose by 3%, breaking through $78 a barrel for the first time since 2014. As an international benchmark, the price of Brent crude oil rose to US $82 a barrel for the first time in three years. "Judging from this decision, 'OPEC +' seems to be satisfied with watching oil prices rise further, despite concerns that the energy crisis in Europe and Asia will continue to intensify," said helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at Royal Bank of Canada capital markets Croft said the situation was complicated by the White House's efforts to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels before the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow next month. White House press secretary Jane pusaki said that the United States has been communicating with OPEC oil producing countries on "a compromise solution" to "advance those pending production increase plans", but did not blame the organization for the surge in crude oil prices. She confirmed that Jack Sullivan, assistant to the president for national security affairs, raised the issue of oil prices to Saudi officials during his visit to Saudi Arabia last week. Last year, when oil demand in the western world collapsed at the time of the most severe blockade, "OPEC +" agreed to implement a record production reduction. But Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, warned last week that global crude oil inventories were decreasing at a record rate and said it believed that oil prices could rise to $90 a barrel later this year. OPEC countries believe that it is necessary for oil prices to rise in order to increase future investment in oil and gas production while demand is still growing. Record natural gas prices are also stimulating demand for crude oil. Amin Nasser, head of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company, said at a meeting on Monday that he believes that the shift of consumers from natural gas to oil has increased oil demand by 500000 barrels / day, higher than the increase in production planned by "OPEC +" next month. |