Saudi Minister Announces Near End Oil Price Down

By mdkg1116

Oct 24, 2016 06:00 AM EDT

On Sunday, Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Oil Minister said that the current cycle of falling crude prices is close to an end as market fundamentals improve.

 Currently, oil prices are hovering at around $50 per barrel after it hits a 10-year low of less than $30 in January, down from summit of more than $100 in mid-2014.

On Sunday, Falih, in a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak told that   the current down cycle is nearing an end after a Gulf ministerial meeting in Riyadh.

In addition, Falih reiterated that market fundamentals in terms of supply and demand have begun to improve. He said that they are optimistic that oil prices will continue to improve in the future.

Mohammed al-Sada, Qatar's energy minister, said that the difficult phase is over. Qatar holds the rotating presidency of the OPEC oil exporting cartel.

Furthermore, al-Sada stated that although the market is heading towards being balanced, it needs our joint effort. They all agreed that they need to take measures to bring back the balance.

They had talked over on ways to develop the best mechanism to solve the issue of stabilization, according to Novak and his Gulf counterparts.

Al-Sada expressed that they have arrived at an unprecedented level in our relations and cooperation as he told the reporters that he agreed with Falih to pursue its work and remain in continuous contact to achieve concrete mechanisms.

Moreover, to tighten collaboration to boost low crude prices historically, OPEC has invited Russia and key non-members to a meeting later this month as the cartel and Moscow.

Aiming to advance joint efforts to bolster oil prices whose lows have hurt the highly dependent economies of crude producers, an invitation was announced after a meeting between top OPEC energy ministers including Novak in Istanbul.

On Monday, the cartel and Russia will meet ahead of the OPEC technical meeting in Vienna on October 28-29, wherein Russia and others have been invited.

The cartel positively agreed its first production cut in eight years, at a meeting last month in Algiers. However, it remains to be seen how this will be complied with and implemented.

On Sunday, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela president, and an OPEC member was in Riyadh for talks a day after calling in Iran. It calls for an increased cooperation to stabilize prices between oil-rich nations.

Compounded by the collapsing price of oil, Maduro admits that currently it faces an economic and political crisis at home.

Maduro is due to visit Qatar on a Middle East tour.

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