Reuters

The Opec may not need to cut its oil output target at a meeting in November, a Gulf Opec delegate and other Opec sources said yesterday, as strengthening demand in coming winter months should support oil prices that have fallen below $100 a barrel.

Oil ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are scheduled to meet in Vienna on November 27, to consider whether to adjust their output target of 30mn bpd for early 2015.

On Tuesday, Opec Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said he expected the group’s production to be around 29.50mn bpd in 2015, not 30mn bpd. “I think our target will be lower, maybe by 500,000,” he said.

But Opec delegates said yesterday it was too early to predict a cut in the output target, while Algeria’s oil minister said he believed current prices were not a matter for concern.

“It is still early to judge,” a Opec delegate from a Gulf country said.

A second delegate said: “All believe oil prices will recover, so no need for action.”

Analysts saw Badri’s comments as a sign that some in Opec were becoming concerned by lower prices, which dropped below the group’s preferred $100 a barrel last week. Brent crude was trading near $99 yesterday.

Badri’s remarks follow the publication of Opec’s latest monthly oil market report last week, in which Opec cut its forecast of the global demand for its crude in 2015, implying Opec will need to trim production. Still, that does not mean Opec will cut its target, an Opec source said. In recent years, Opec has kept the ceiling unchanged and left supply management to informal tweaks by Saud Arabia, supported by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

“Opec’s output will need to be lower next year,” the source said. “But what the ministers decide in November, that’s their decision.”

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi played down concerns about the fall in prices below $100 and said it was too early for Opec to act.

A Gulf source said yesterday demand would recover, although prices could stay at times below $100.

“I think prices would continue fluctuating 5% or so around $100,” a Gulf delegate said yesterday, adding that he did not see a risk of a downward trend in prices.

“Yes, there is slowdown in demand, but the market is still in a more balanced situation. Demand is expected to pick up in the fourth quarter,” the Gulf source said.

Algeria’s oil minister, an advocate of measures likely to support high oil prices in the past, made similar remarks, saying he was not worried by the decline in prices.

 

 

‘Qatar seeks to diversify its economy by attracting foreign investments’

 

 

Qatar’s Ambassador to the US, Mohammed Jaham al- Kuwari has stressed that Qatar is seeking to diversify its national economy by attracting foreign investments and developing relations of co-operation with the private sector.

In a speech before the Business Council for International Understanding in New York attended by senior executives in US companies last night, the ambassador said that Qatar is seeking to build a knowledge-based economy rather than relying on the exports of liquefied natural gas.

He said the main objectives of Qatar were to build a sustainable national economy and play a leading role in regional development and economic integration in the region, as well as strengthen the economic position of Qatar internationally and build strong partnerships with the private sector around the world. Speaking about the economy, he stressed that the Qatari government was making unremitting efforts to improve the business climate in order to encourage local and foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the Qatari market, pointing out that the new law which regulates the partnerships between the private and public sectors will help in achieving this goal.

Al- Kuwari added that Qatari authorities have expressed their willingness to provide incentives for investing companies such as customs duty exemption on exports and taxes for a specific period of time.

He made clear that Qatar’s investment portfolio in the Middle East and North Africa is diverse and includes different sectors, stressing that the Qatari investments are non-political. He also expressed Qatar’s desire to expand its investments in the region.

He said that Qatar plays an active role in the field of investment in order to strengthen its global economic role, pointing out that Qatar is seeking to expand its investments to include the US, revealing the country’s aspiration to make new investments in the sectors of infrastructure and energy.

He also expressed the willingness of Qatar to launch projects in collaboration with private sector companies in the emerging countries, announcing at the same time Qatar’s desire to have foreign investments in its markets.

Al- Kuwari said that as part of the ongoing preparations for the FIFA 2022 World Cup, Qatar allocated as much as $205bn to develop the infrastructure, particularly transport, electricity and water and also the services sector to receive guests who will attend the World Cup matches. He said that Qatar has many investment opportunities and urged international companies to open offices in Doha.

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