TheCable

Mohammad Barkindo, secretary general of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), says everyone loses if OPEC and non-OPEC states do not work together.

Speaking on low oil prices, in India on Monday, Barkindo said youths were losing interest in the global oil sector, following the plunge in the commodity price and loss of investments.

“Low prices achieved only one thing: they dramatically choked off investments. Research and development spending was reduced.  And drastic cost-cutting strategies were put into place across the board,” he said.

“Young people also lost any interest they might have had in making a career in the oil sector.”

On the need to work together, he said: “I am optimistic about all these laudable activities, as they could lead to more transparent security, stability and sustainability.

“But nothing can be taken for granted, and we must continue to work together: producers and consumers, OPEC and non-OPEC producers, and those working in the upstream as well as the downstream. We all have something to gain by working together – and much to lose if we do not.”

He highlighted the quick facts of the historic oil deal reached by OPEC last week as follows:

• It is the first production adjustment since Oran 2008;
• Iraq is effectively part of the production management for the first time since 1998;
• Iran has accepted a compromise solution that takes into account its temporary special circumstances with a cap on its production;
• Participating non-OPEC countries, for the first time, are committed to a joint agreement for production adjustment;
• An OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee has been established to monitor the implementation and compliance of the agreement and to demonstrate the joint commitment to and collaboration in production management;
• The Vienna Agreement has institutionalized a framework for structured, sustained and transparent partnership with non-OPEC countries;
• The Vienna Agreement is openly shared with the public to reflect its credible, equitable,transparent, measurable and verifiable features.

A joint ministerial level meeting with non-OPEC countries will be held on December 10, at the OPEC secretariat in Vienna – the first such meeting since 2002.