Global demand for OPEC crude in 2015 is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade and far below current output, the group said on Wednesday, pointing to a hefty supply surplus without OPEC output cuts or a slowdown in the U.S. shale boom.
Tags: OPEC
Oil slumps near $59 for first time since 2009 on oversupply
Oil fell to just above $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009 on Tuesday, extending a six-month selloff as slowing Chinese factory activity and weakening emerging-market currencies added to concerns about demand.
Ruble jumps on Russia rate hike, oil pressured
Sliding oil prices and a downbeat China factory survey weighed on Asian shares on Tuesday, while the ruble jumped against the dollar after Russia sharply increased its benchmark interest rate in a bid to halt a collapse in its currency.
Oil hits new five-year low before rallying to $63
Brent crude oil hit a fresh five-year low close to $60 a barrel on Monday after producer group OPEC restated its determination not to cut output despite a global fuel glut, but the North Sea benchmark later rallied to around $63.
OPEC chief defends policy, says group to try to ride out price fall
Oil producers group OPEC can ride out a slump in oil prices and keep output unchanged, its head said on Sunday, arguing market weakness did not reflect supply and demand fundamentals and could have been driven by speculators.
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Brent and U.S. crude oil each fell more than $2 a barrel on Monday to a new five-year low amid a rising number of predictions that oversupply would extend well into 2015.
Global oil prices slid further on Friday, with Brent on track for the first weekly close below $70 a barrel since 2010, as strong U.S. employment data did little to lift the oil market's bearish mood a day after Saudi Arabia cut official selling prices.
Brent rose to $71 a barrel on Wednesday, recovering some of its losses from the previous session as a turbulent market searched for a price floor after a nearly 40 percent fall since June.
Oil prices fell to their lowest in five years on Monday, hit by slowing factory activity in China and Europe and hammering emerging market stocks and commodity-linked currencies.
The ECB's monthly rate meeting will focus minds this week on the debate over quantitative easing in the euro zone, as a series of data releases on both sides of the Atlantic sheds more light on European woes and U.S. strength.
Essar Group, a $39 billion Indian conglomerate, is looking to tap frozen Iranian oil revenues to pay for its steel exports to Tehran, in a novel attempt to work around Western financial sanctions against the OPEC member state.
Russia's most powerful oil official Igor Sechin said in an interview with an Austrian newspaper that oil prices could fall below $60 by mid-way through next year.
Saudi Arabia's oil minister told fellow OPEC members they must combat the U.S. shale oil boom, arguing against cutting crude output in order to depress prices and undermine the profitability of North American producers.
Shale stocks have been hard-hit as investors see margins all but evaporating following the slide in crude oil prices, but the U.S. shale energy boom is not over.
