Abu Dhabi: Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is looking at having a long-term cooperation with non-Opec members by December to bring stability to oil markets, Opec secretary general Mohammad Barkindo said in Fujairah on Tuesday.
Opec is currently cooperating with non-Opec members like Russia as part of an agreement called Declaration of Cooperation to reduce production by 1.8 million barrels per day to support oil prices.
The agreement was subsequently changed in the last Opec’s meeting in Vienna and the oil producing countries decided to increase production by about one million barrels per day as rising oil prices was dampening demand and creating problems for high oil consuming countries like India and China.
Speaking at the Gulf Intelligence Energy Markets Forum in Fujairah, Barkindo said the Declaration of Cooperation has become a permanent feature in the global energy scene and will continue to stay.
“What we are working now is to make it (Declaration of Cooperation) more permanent and institutionalize the framework. Our target is to have a longer cooperation framework in place by December when we reconvene in Vienna for the annual meeting,” Barkindo said.
He also expects oil demand to grow in the foreseeable future with oil and gas dominating the energy basket till 2040.
A number of top executives from oil and gas industry are taking part in the one-day forum that is titled as post record inventory era, how to navigate the new normal of global oil and gas trade flows.
Arjuna Ranatunga, minister of petroleum resources from Sri Lanka along with Dr Mater Al Neyadi, undersecretary of the ministry of energy and industry are attending the forum.
