By KUNA
Vienna : The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) basket of 12 crudes dropped 34 cents on Wednesday to settle at USD 95.95 per barrel, after being at USD 96.29 the day before.
This drop comes just one day after OPEC agreed to maintain its production ceiling at the current 29.6 million barrels per day, with the exception of Iraq which did not fall within the production quota system.
According to the OPEC bulletin, the average annual price of the basket last year was USD 69.10 per barrel.
OPEC Reference Basket (ORB), implemented as of 10 September 2007, is currently made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Minas (Indonesia), 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 BCF 17 (Venezuela).
Yesterday in Vienna, OPEC oil ministers decided to maintain the cartel’s output ceiling of 29.6 million barrels per day despite the recent record price rise to above the USD 100-mark.
They justified the decision by the fact that the world oil market was “well-supplied with current commercial oil stocks standing above their five-year average,” according to a final communique issued following OPEC’s 148th regular meeting.
The price hike resulted from factors uncontrolled by the OPEC such as the heated speculations by dealers and the inefficiency of refineries as well as geopolitical unrest in oil-rich regions, it added.
The communique also noted, with concern, that the current price environment did not reflect market fundamentals of supply and demand, as crude oil prices were being strongly influenced by the weakness in the US dollar, rising inflation and significant flow of funds into the commodities market.
This is the second time in a row that OPEC maintains its production ceiling.
US President George W. Bush and other top world officials had expressed their disappointment at this decision, saying that maintaining the production ceiling was a mistake that would affect demand in the future.
OPEC oil ministers agreed to hold their next regular session in Vienna on September 9 to probe the cartel’s policies for the fourth quarter of the year, according to the final communique.