Oil prices continue to decline - Economist

On Thursday, OPEC and its allies are expected to decide whether to pump more oil into the market or curb supplies amid a decline in oil prices, US moves to pump more of its crude reserves and concerns about the mutated Omicron strain of the Coronavirus.

We find that oil prices have fallen below $70 a barrel during today's trading from a high of $86 in October, recording its largest monthly decline since the beginning of the pandemic, due to the new mutation of the Coronavirus.

The price of Brent crude oil decreased by 2.56%, which is equivalent to 1.79 dollars, which led to the price of 68.41 dollars per barrel, and we find that the American West Texas Intermediate crude decreased by 2.61%, which is equivalent to 1.75 dollars, which brought its price to 65.21 dollars per barrel.

We find that the OPEC group and its allies, "OPEC Plus", are at odds with the United States of America, which asked the group to increase its production to support the global economy. Prices are falling, but the producing countries say that they do not want to impede a weak recovery of the energy industry with a new oversupply.

OPEC sources said that the meeting of the organization's ministers ended today, Wednesday, without any recommendations on production policy, and the OPEC + alliance, which includes Russia and other producing countries, is likely to take a decision on production policy tomorrow, Thursday.

Russia and Saudi Arabia, the two largest producers in OPEC +, said before this week's meetings that there was no need for the group to take a knee-jerk reaction to adjust production policy.

In general, it appears that Omicron's impact has so far been limited to jet fuel, particularly in Africa and Europe, OPEC+ said in a report before the meeting.