Low oil price: OPEC to hold emergency meeting

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu has said some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, have requested to hold an emergency meeting. He told Reuters on Tuesday that a “couple” of OPEC members see the need for an urgent session due to the current market conditions. At an energy conference which held in Abu Dhabi, Kachikwu said that the objective of the emergency meeting would be to review OPEC’s policy to see if there was any need to change strategy.

He however declined to name the countries which had requested the emergency meeting. It will be recalled that the world, especially oil dependent countries, Nigeria inclusive, have been thrown into financial drought since oil prices have been falling consistently since mid-year 2014. Oil prices have dropped to a twelve-year low due to over – supply of some members of OPEC into the market, forcing price below $30 per barrel as at the time of filing this report.

Countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others have kept pumping more than enough into the market, with Iran threatening to pump in even more once its ban is lifted. Even the US recently lifted its 40 year old ban on export, a move which has threatened its continuous patronage of some oil producing countries like Nigeria.