OPEC Officially Announce $60 Oil Target

By Stewart Douglas

In what has been a remarkably good week for oil prices and the future of the world economy, OPEC have officially announced a $60 target price for crude oil.

The announcement came within a Kuwaiti national oil report, which quoted OPEC’s research division as supporting a $60 price.

The $60 mark was said to be a ‘fair price’ per barrel, reaching a suitable level for both suppliers and consumers, whilst allowing satisfaction of rising demand.

And with oil prices currently soaring above $70 a barrel, there is still some way to go to readdress the balance of the oil market.

OPEC, which represents a cartel of the world’s major oil exporting nations, meets later on in the year to discuss the potential to increase supply, despite OPEC’s rigorous denials of the impact of an alleged supply shortage on the current market situation.

However, the news of a supported price decrease points further towards a forthcoming increase in production, in line with comments emerging from Iran earlier this week and analyst projections over the last few months.

By increasing production, it is hoped that the rising demand worldwide for oil will be further fulfilled, leading to a decrease in price on the open market.

The report refused to specifically comment on the exact oil exchange to which the price figures referred, although the price across the board remains in the high $70.00-$80.00 per barrel mark.

It also laid the blame of rising oil prices firmly at the door of the political row over Iran’s nuclear programme, and US refinery problems, as well as a recent spate of abductions and large scale fraud in Nigeria.

The price range of $60-$65 was quoted as being a realistic target, pointing further towards rumours of an impending supply increase when OPEC meets later this year.