aThe Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets on Friday in the Austrian capital, with delegates saying the group will leave its oil output policy unchanged.
Angola’s oil minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos told reporters on Tuesday in Luanda that he would prefer the price of oil remain at 80 dollars per barrel.
“I would like the price (to) go up, but it is not easy,” Vasconcelos said.
Asked whether $70-80 was the right price for oil, he said: “80 maybe.”
Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi said the Saudi strategy of defending market share through higher supplies and lower oil prices was working.
“Demand is picking up. Good! Supply is slowing, right? That is a fact,” he said.
“You can see that I’m not stressed; I’m happy.”
Asked about demand in the second half of this year, he said: “It will be better than now.”
Naimi said it would take time for oil markets – still heavily oversupplied – to rebalance.
“I don’t have a crystal ball but it is (going) in the right direction,” he said.
“This is not a good time to sell the surplus. So they (traders) have to keep it and as the contango goes down and they see the backwardation coming forward they will hang on to it.
“They are not going to dump it on the market,” Naimi said.
-Reuters/NAN
