OPEC talks on oil market draws few non-member attendance

A meeting of oil experts from OPEC and non-member countries aimed at addressing the market’s decline drew thin attendance from outside the exporter group on Wednesday, with only five non-OPEC nations present.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had invited eight non-member countries including Russia to the talks, ahead of OPEC’s policy-setting meeting at its Vienna headquarters on Dec. 4.

Wednesday’s discussions are not expected to increase the prospect of cooperation on oil supply curbs or show much support for a price band proposed by OPEC member Venezuela.

But participants could agree to share information or continue to assess the market, OPEC delegates and analysts say.

“There will be an exchange of views, discussion of the market and the OPEC secretariat’s presentation, but I don’t think there will be an agreement to coordinate,” an OPEC delegate said.

Of the non-OPEC countries invited, Mexico, Russia, Colombia, Kazakhstan and Brazil are understood to have sent representatives. A similar meeting held in May failed to achieve cooperation between the two sides.

Non-OPEC producers have refused to work with OPEC in cutting supply to reduce a surplus that has prompted oil prices to sink below $50 a barrel from $115 in June 2014.

In turn, OPEC has refused to limit supply alone and many of its members have raised output.

Most OPEC countries have sent their national representatives – oil experts who rank below ministers – to the event, although Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino and his Ecuadorean counterpart Pedro Merizalde-Pavón are attending.

Cash-strapped member Venezuela is pushing for OPEC and non-OPEC cuts and has proposed reviving OPEC’s price band mechanism, attempting to set a price floor of $70 a barrel.

Venezuela’s Del Pino said the market equilibrium price for crude was around $88 per barrel.

“At $40 a barrel, we are below the equilibrium price,” he told reporters during a break from the talks, reiterating comments made by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday.

The minister also said Maduro had written to the heads of state of countries participating in the meeting to propose an OPEC and non-OPEC summit next month on the state of the market.

“We are concerned about the depletion of the reservoirs, the decline of the production and about the investment that is required,” del Pino said.

Gulf OPEC members, including top exporter Saudi Arabia, have shown no interest in returning to a strategy of supporting prices, seeking instead to fight for market share.