<\/p>\n
London – The average price of crude sold by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell below $40 a barrel for the first time 2009, underscoring the financial cost of the group\u2019s strategy to defend its market share.<\/strong><\/p>\n The daily OPEC Basket Price fell to $39.21 a barrel on November 13, according to an e-mail on Monday from the organisation\u2019s secretariat in Vienna.<\/p>\n The basket, an average of export grades from each of the group\u2019s 12 members, typically trades below international oil futures as some OPEC nations pump denser or higher-sulfur crude that\u2019s less profitable to refine.<\/p>\n Oil has slumped since the middle of last year as the Organization of Petroleum Countries keeps output elevated to pressure rivals it sees as responsible for creating a global surplus.<\/p>\n A decline in production among its higher-cost competitors including US shale drillers has now slowed, with output still above last year\u2019s level. With OPEC members\u2019 revenues diminished, the group may reconsider its approach if the price slump persists, according to the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n Low oil prices aren\u2019t just problematic for higher-cost producers, said Olivier Jakob, managing director at consultants Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland. \u201cIt is also providing a challenging fiscal environment\u201d for OPEC nations, he said.<\/p>\n OPEC\u2019s annual revenues may be curbed to $550bn at current prices from an average of more than $1trn in the last five years, Fatih Birol, executive director at the IEA, said in London on November 10.<\/p>\n Even Saudi Arabia, the group\u2019s biggest member, faces a budget deficit this year that the International Monetary Fund predicts will exceed 20% of gross domestic product.<\/p>\n Still, IEA expects the price slump would need to persist for several years before the kingdom reconsiders its current strategy.<\/p>\n OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri, said this month that the global market is on track to rebalance next year.<\/p>\n OPEC ministers will meet to review their current policy on December 4 in Vienna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OPEC export price falls below $40 London – The average price of crude sold by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell below $40 a barrel for the first time 2009, underscoring the financial cost of the group\u2019s strategy to defend its market share. The daily OPEC Basket Price fell to $39.21 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-te-public"],"yoast_head":"\n