The Secretary General of OPEC has joined the chorus of voices from the oil producing world in calling for an oil price in excess of US$70 a barrel, according to the news gathering agency AFP.
Speaking at a press conference in Algeria, Abdalla El-Badri, warned investment in exploration and production could be severely affected in the future if oil prices stayed at their current levels.Â
“The price of 50 dollars is not enough to cover investment costs for the future,” AFP reported El-Badri as saying..
“The price which allows reasonable and acceptable revenues is more than 70 dollars a barrel,” he added.
The OPEC chief was in Algeria for a meeting with Chakib Khelil, the respected former president of OPEC who is now the energy minister for the North African state.Â
There has been some speculation that OPEC may agree on making further cuts in out-put in an attempt to raise oil prices when it next meets in Vienna in May. At OPEC’s previous meeting it was decided not to make any further production cuts in favour of achieving better compliance to the original cuts made in September of last year.
The oil cartel recently lowered its estimate for global oil consumption, after admitting that it had not foresaw the level of contraction that has occurred in 2009 due to the current financial crises affecting the world’s economies.Â
It is believed that the low consumption will keep oil prices around $50 a barrel for the coming months. However, some analysts believe that OPEC production cuts could force the oil price up to around the $70 mark.Â
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