OPEC Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo, said on Friday that the cartel was not seeking to artificially drive oil prices higher in spite of such claims made by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Twitter that the oil prices were “artificially very high,” accusing
OPEC of being behind it.
“We do not have any price objective not as OPEC and not in this joint endeavor with non-OPEC,” Barkindo
told reporters, commenting on Trump’s statement.
The OPEC chief added that the organization had invited the US shale oil producers to take part in its
seminar in June in Vienna.
“We have invited them for our seminar in June in Vienna … We in OPEC pride ourselves as friends of the
U.S., who have vested interest in their growth, development and prosperity,” Barkindo said.
The Declaration of Cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing countries on oil output cuts,
which was signed in December 2016 and implemented since 2017, “rescued the oil industry from imminent
collapse, and is now on course to restore stability on a sustainable basis in the interest of producers,
consumers, and the global economy,” Barkindo pointed out.
In an effort to stabilize global oil prices, OPEC and several non-OPEC oil producers reached a deal
in Vienna in 2016, agreeing to cut oil output by a total of 1.8 million barrels per day.
Non-OPEC states promised to jointly reduce oil output by 558,000 barrels per day, with Russia pledging
to cut production by 300,000 barrels daily.
In late May, the parties to the agreement agreed to extend the deal until the end of March 2018.
Another extension was made in late November that would make the deal remain in effect until the end
of 2018.
