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Sharp drop in oil prices slows with extending production cuts in 2019 - KAMCO

KAMCO Investment Company
KAMCO Investment Company
KUWAIT, Nov 17 (KUNA) -- KAMCO Investment Company said that the sharp drop in oil prices slowed with the possibility of OPEC and non-OPEC members extending production cuts next year.
Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may seek to extend the current production reduction agreement until 2019 as the Kingdom proposed as an immediate solution producers need to reduce oil production by 1 million barrels per day compared to the levels of last October, KAMCO said in a report Saturday.
Oil prices fell in one of the longest consecutive declines, losing 20 percent to the end of last week compared with the highest levels in early October, it added.
It noted that this drop is due to short-term concerns about oil demand on the back of expectations of weak global economic growth in the short term as well as worries about rising oil production, stock surges, weak emerging market currencies and extended exceptions to Iran's recent sanctions.
In its report, KAMCO pointed out that the price of OPEC crude reached USD 67 dollars pb, falling below the level of USD 70 pb for the first time since mid-August and the lowest closing price in the past seven months.
Despite this decline, the average crude prices in October showed a positive trend due to the rapid pace of gains recorded at the beginning of the month, it added.
It noted that recent data showed an increase in overall oil production with US production reaching record levels of 11.6 million barrels per day and Russia's production of 11.4 million bpd, while OPEC increased production by 430,000 bpd in October. (end) aam.aa