OPEC set to continue oil output restraint

OPEC is ready to keep existing oil output curbs when it meets on Thursday, delegates said, but the group is wary recent falls in U.S. equities markets could presage a slowdown in the world’s top energy consumer.

Stocks wobbled again on Wednesday as concerns over the impact of U.S. home owners falling behind with mortgage payments hit financial shares. Europe’s FTSEurofirst fell 2.6 percent. U.S. stocks erased an early dip on the Dow index to end higher.
Crude oil seesawed around $58 a barrel, touching its lowest since mid-February at one point and ending up one cent.

Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru, speaking after a meeting of OPEC’s advisory panel, said the risks to oil were to the downside amid mounting evidence of slowing economic growth.

“The market is bearish. There are a number of signs. Oil stock levels are high,” Daukoru told reporters as he left the meeting of OPEC’s Ministerial Monitoring Committee.

It will advise OPEC’s full ministerial meeting on Thursday to keep current output restrictions in place, despite a call from the International Energy Agency for increased exports.

Oil ministers from OPEC’s core Gulf oil producers backed that stance at separate talks on Wednesday evening.

“The global economy is slowing down. China is cooling off, India is cooling off, even the U.S. that is the engine. If you put all the factors together including non-OPEC growth it is bearish so we are looking to implement the full cuts.”

Reuters