More Libya, Nigeria oil needed to rebalance market

In order to rebalance the oil market, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Libya and Nigeria needs to ramp up their production quota.

Compliance with production cuts by OPEC members and Libya and Nigeria exemption from the cuts have boosted production, leading to speculation about whether OPEC will seek to cap their output to help reduce a global glut.

According to OPEC’s Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo “The re-balancing process may be going on at a slower pace than we earlier projected, but it is on course, and it’s bound to accelerate in the second half.”

Demand is expected to grow by 2 million barrels a day in the second half, he added, without specifying if he was comparing that with the same period of 2016 or the first half of this year.

Brent crude prices have declined 15 percent this year on concerns that growing output in Libya and Nigeria, as well as the U.S., is more than making up for production cuts by OPEC members and other oil producers, including Russia.