Price falls to $59.48 a barrel as world’s major producers postpone expected announcement
The Saudi energy minister has cast doubt on the prospect of Opec announcing a cut in output after admitting he was “not confident” a deal would be reached.
At a crunch meeting in Vienna this week, the Opec cartel has tried to plot a course between protecting member countries’ revenues and not angering Donald Trump, who on Wednesday called for oil to keep flowing in order to hold down prices.
Oil prices slipped 4% to below $60 (£47) on Thursday as Khalid al-Falih’s comments, reported by Bloomberg, placed question marks over a deal. Brent crude, the international benchmark, has plunged from $86 at the start of October to about $60 recently, over concerns at a glut in supply and faltering demand. Sources said the group had agreed on the need to curb production but had yet to reach an agreement on the exact figure.
Oil was down to $59.48 a barrel on Thursday, after a planned Opec press conference on the group’s deal failed to materialise. A briefing is now expected on Friday morning.
A reduction of between 0.5m barrels per day and 1.5mb/d is on the table, with experts saying around 1mb/d looked the most likely.
“To stabilise prices, 1mb/d would be enough,” said Ann-Louise Hittle of oil and gas analysts Wood Mackenzie, speaking from Vienna. “That’s a safe option in terms of not triggering some sort of reaction from Trump.”
Prices have fallen partly because the US issued waivers for sanctions imposed on Iran at the start of November. Another factor is surging US production, which has reached record highs of 11.5mb/d, or more than a 10th of global output, a figure that is expected to rise further in 2019.
A key question for Opec if it goes ahead with cuts is how they are divided between cartel members and its ally Russia, which is reluctant to make a big reduction. Most of the curbs would be expected to come from the group’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, and to take effect for six months from 1 January.
Opec’s meeting was overshadowed earlier in the week by Qatar, which has been hit by a Saudi-led boycott for the past 18 months, announcing it would quit the cartel to push its own gas-centric group.
According to delegates in Vienna, one subject that has “disappeared off the radar” is the prospect of Saudi Arabia’s $2tn (£1.6tn) flotation of part of its national oil company. The kingdom has denied reports the IPO of Saudi Aramco has been delayed indefinitely, though the country needs high oil prices to reach the valuation it wants.
Opec’s bid to stabilise prices by curbing production came as nearly 200 countries met a couple of hundred miles away at the UN climate change summit in Katowice, Poland, to discuss curbing fossil fuel production to tackle climate change.
Highlight Vocabulary
1. prospect (n) /ˈprɒs.pekt/ the idea of something that will or might happen in the future: (ý tưởng rằng việc gì đó sẽ hoặc có thể sẽ xảy ra)
Ví dụ:
(Ý tưởng của việc dành cả ba ngày với cô ấy làm tôi cảm thấy hoảng sợ cực độ.)
2. crunch (adj) /krʌntʃ/ a difficult situation which forces you to make a decision or act: (một tình huống khó khăn ép bạn phải đưa ra lựa chọn hoặc hành động)
Ví dụ:
(Bang đối mặt với tình huống tài chính khó khăn)
3. call for (phrasal verb) /kɔːl/ to demand that something happens: (đòi hỏi để thứ gì xảy ra)
Ví dụ:
(Các thành viên đòi hỏi anh ta phải nghỉ việc.)
4. glut (n) /ɡlʌt/ a supply of something that is much greater than can be sold or is needed or wanted: (Một lượng cung cấp nhiều hơn lượng bán hoặc cần)
Ví dụ:
(Giảm lượng cầu cà phê đã gây thừa mứa.)
5. on the table (phr) being discussed or considered: (được bàn luận hoặc xem xét)
Ví dụ:
(Có vài vấn đề quan trọng đang được bàn luận.)
6. surge (n) /sɜːdʒ/ a sudden and great increase (tăng một lượng nhanh chóng và nhiều)
Ví dụ:
(Một lượng tăng bất ngờ trong năng lượng điện gây hư máy.)
7. go ahead with (phrasal verb) start to do something: bắt đầu
Ví dụ:
(Chúng tôi nhận được giấy phép tiếp tục buổi lễ hội mặc cho sự phản đối từ người dân địa phương.)
8. reluctant (adj) /rɪˈlʌk.tənt/ not willing to do something and therefore slow to do it: không sẵn sàng làm gì và kết quả rề rà
Ví dụ:
(Tôi đã rất vui và tôi không muốn rời khỏi.)
9. overshadow (v) /ˌəʊ.vəˈʃæd.əʊ/ to cause someone or something to seem less important or noticeable: (làm ai đó hoặc cái gì có vẻ ít quan trọng hay ít chú ý.)
Ví dụ:
(Karen luôn bị lu mờ bởi chị gái lớn của cô.)
10. take affect (phrasal verb) to produce or achieve the results you want: sản xuất hoặc đạt được kết quả bạn muốn
Ví dụ:
(Họ phải đợi 10 phút để thuốc mê có tác dụng trước khi họ khâu vết cắt.)
Người dịch: Mỹ An
Nguồn: theguardian.com
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