OPEC says oil market may have upside potential next year

The Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Mohammed Barkindo has stated that oil market outlook for next year may have upside potential, appearing to downplay any need to cut output more deeply.

The OPEC and its allies led by Russia are scheduled to meet in December.

The OPEC+ alliance in seeking to boost oil prices, has since January implemented a deal to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day until March 2020.

Barkindo said he was more optimistic about the market outlook for next year than he had been in October, when he had said all options were open including a deeper cut to oil output amid forecasts of oversupply.

“Based on the preliminary numbers, 2020 looks like it will have upside potential,” he said on Tuesday. “There are definitely brighter spots. The numbers are looking more refined and the picture is looking brighter.”

“The other non-fundamental factors like trade issues that have been impacting negatively on the global economy, the news coming out is more optimistic. We have seen the biggest economy in the world, the United States, continuing to defy projections, racing ahead.”

SOURCE: Oriental News Nigeria