Poor OPEC members — Angola, Venezuela, Nigeria and Iraq, who received loans in the context of high oil prices — due to falling prices was in debt, writes Reuters Wednesday, may 25. Now to service their financial obligations these countries have to put to its creditors three times more oil than under favorable price conditions.
The increased debt burden has exacerbated the rift between OPEC members, says the Agency. Poor countries insist on agreeing on production cuts, while wealthy members of the cartel, including Saudi Arabia, oppose this measure, despite the drop in oil prices by 60 percent over the past two years.
This year Angola, Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela will have to put its creditors in the amount of oil from 30 billion to $ 50 billion, according to the Reuters calculations. At a price of $ 120 a barrel to pay off debt the size of $ 50 billion would require annual oil exports with a volume of one million barrels per day, whereas at an oil price of 40 dollars — more than three million barrels per day.
At the same time, the wealthy members of OPEC — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar — are very few joint ventures with foreign companies, no agreements on a prepaid basis with China and no need to borrow from traders.
On Tuesday, may 24, expert at Citigroup, said that the strategy of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, which aims to reduce the dependence of the Kingdom on oil is the death knell for OPEC.
At the same time, the President of OPEC, Minister of energy of Qatar Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada has not excluded that negotiations on the reduction of oil production can be resumed.
The coming negotiations between the representatives of OPEC countries and of States not members of the organization, can be held June 2 in Vienna. At the previous meeting, held in Doha on 17 April, the parties have not reached agreement on the freezing of oil production.
As at 25 may 17:30 GMT, the price of a barrel of Brent on London exchange ICE was $ 49.48 USD. The barrel of the us WTI crude oil traded at a mark 49,34 dollar.
