UAE says OPEC will no longer shore up oil price

Yahoo – AFP, 13 Jan 2015

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei speaks during the Gulf Intelligence

UAE Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on January 13, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Abu Dhabi (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday that OPEC will no longer move to shore up crude prices, arguing that rising North American shale oil output needs to be curbed.

World prices have been falling since June but the pace of the slide accelerated in November when the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to maintain its production unchanged at 30 million barrels per day.

Analysts say that richer cartel members like the UAE have been ready to accept the price fall in the hope that it will force higher-cost shale producers out of the market.

"We cannot continue to be protecting a certain price," UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said.

"We have seen the oversupply, coming primarily from shale oil, and that needed to be corrected," he told participants in the Gulf Intelligence UAE Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.

Oil prices continued their slide towards six-year lows in Asian trade on Tuesday after Brent crude closed below $50 a barrel the previous day for the first time since April 2009.

The fall came after Wall Street investment titan Goldman Sachs slashed its price outlook, adding to anxiety about global oversupply, weak demand and soft growth in the key Chinese and European markets.

Brent crude for February delivery fell $1.33 to $46.10 a barrel -- around its lowest point since April 2009.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate shed $1.13 cents to $44.94 -- its weakest level since March 2009.

Mazrouei said the UAE remains "concerned" about balance in the oil markets but "cannot under any circumstances be the only party responsible," in reference to rising output from non-OPEC members.

World prices have been falling since June but the pace of the slide accelerated 

in November when the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

 decided to keep its production levels unchanged at 30 million barrels per day 

(AFP Photo/Alexander Klein)

Oil producers outside the cartel should be rational about their output, he said, adding that current prices are "not sustainable" for them.

"We are telling the market and other producers to be rational, to be like OPEC and look at growth in the market," Mazrouei said.

He said that if OPEC had opted to cut production, other producers would have stepped in to make up the lost output and the cartel would have lost market share without any effect on prices.

Mazrouei said current prices were "not sustainable," particularly for producers outside the Gulf region.

He said that with oil below $50 a barrel, it was uneconomic for shale oil producers to keep investing in increasing production.

"Shale oil brings almost four million (barrels per day) for the United States, and the hope is that it will bring another four million by 2020. That cannot be sustained, produced or invested in at the current oil price," he said.

Mazrouei said he did not expect a swift recovery in prices.

"It is unlikely that we'll see a sudden rise," he said.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”