Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- Nigeria is keeping its options open on output quotas when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets next week in the wake of falling oil prices, the country’s oil minister said on Thursday.
“I’m keeping an open mind,” junior Minister for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia told AFP ahead of next Tuesday’s OPEC meeting in Vienna.
“We haven’t seen the end of the volatility and I think we should wait and see how things settle down … before we take a step to intervene,” he said.
Oil prices have fallen since hitting record highs above 147 dollars in July on fears that a slowing global economy will dent demand.
Some OPEC members have expressed concerns over the falling prices, sparking speculation the cartel could cut output if the price falls below 100 dollars.
But Ajumogobia prefers to remain cautious and adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
“When the price was going very high, there was a lot of advocacy that countries should produce more, (but) I have always maintained that the price was driven by factors other than the supply and demand and I still think so,” he said.
The OPEC cartel of 13 countries, includes Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have some of the biggest reserves in the world.
OPEC ministers are scheduled to meet in Vienna on Sep. 9 to review the organizations output policy. The group is also expected to hold an extraordinary meeting in Algeria in December.
