OPEC May Try to Keep Brent Oil Price above USD 50 Per Barrel

Moscow (PNA/ITAR-TASS) — OPEC may try to keep the price of Brent crude oil above USD 50 per barrel, according to the experts at the investment bank Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA).

According to the bank’s experts, led by BofA Head of Global Commodity Research Francisco Blanch, OPEC could react to low oil prices in case developing countries demand weakens.

Over the past few years, the breakeven points of OPEC countries budgets increased, while Saudi Arabia is able to finance its budget deficit at the expense of state reserves while Brent price stays in the range of USD 55-70 per barrel, according to BofA experts. At the same time Saudi Arabia cannot maintain costs for long at the price of Brent below USD 40 per barrel, Bank’s analysts said. “In this case the OPEC’s desire to cooperate grows exponentially with falling oil prices, the experts said.

Brent crude oil price on August 31 soared 8 percent and exceeded USD 54. The sharp acceleration of growth in oil prices occurred after the publication of the OPEC bulletin, which stated that the organization was ready to negotiate with the countries — producers of that are not members of OPEC in order to stabilize world oil prices. (PNA/ITAR-TASS) JBP/CDN