OPEC impasse fuels price drop

The failure of OPEC to pin down the details of an agreement to adjust its official output target led to the sputtering in oil prices to US$ 58 a barrel. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is nearing a deal to expand its output cut by 500,000 barrels a day.

“We may even see oil prices falling if the group officially excludes condensate from Russia’s quota and fails to come up with a solution to improve Iraq and Nigeria’s compliance level,” opined Kim Kwangrae, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc.