OPEC Probably Can’t Lower Oil Prices, Kudrin Says

(Bloomberg) — OPEC is probably incapable of lowering the price of oil, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said, a day after crude reached a record.

“Cartels are not the institutions to lower prices,” Kudrin told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum today.


Crude oil surged $10.75, or 8.4 percent, to a record $138.54 a barrel yesterday in New York after the U.S. dollar weakened and Morgan Stanley said prices may reach $150 within a month. The price of oil has more than doubled in a year.

Kudrin also said he was “skeptical” about the ability of gas-exporting countries to set up a cartel similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that could control gas prices.

Bloomberg