LOC19:01
16:01 GMT
ALGIERS, Nov 5 (KUNA) -- Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Chakib
Khelil predicted here Monday that the OPEC would take no decision on the oil
market ahead of its extraordinary ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi on December
5.
He also expected that oil prices would remain at their current level until
the second quarter of next year amid forecasts of a drop in international
demand for oil by two million barrels per day.
He ascribed his predictions to an increase in demand for oil in the coming
months, oil refineries' inability to cover global demand and political
factors, chiefly fears over northern Iraqi oil flow suspension, a very cold
winter and the US dollar depreciation vis-@-vis other currencies.
The Algerian minister also attributed the recent record levels of oil to a
drop in consumers' dwindling oil reserves.
Meanwhile, he unfolded that the leaders of OPEC member states would meet in
the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on November 17-18.
The meeting will be part of more multilateral consultations among the OPEC
members after Angola and Ecuador joined the cartel, he said. (end)
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