The latest estimate by the International Energy Agency, published on Friday Nov. 14, foresees that depressed oil prices on the international market will continue until 2015. The agency cites falling demand as the reason for the drop in oil prices.
The same report indicates that the high volume of oil production from unknown sources has also caused the prices to drop to their lowest levels since 2010.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the price of Brent crude oil has fallen to $77 a barrel.
The French News Agency reported on Friday that at the next OPEC meeting on Nov 27, there will be little chance that members of the group, who are responsible for a third of the world’s oil production, will agree to reduce production.
Oil prices have dropped 30% since last May on the international market.
The official website of the International Energy Agency shows that in October 2014, an additional 35,000 barrels of oil per day pushed production to a new total of 940,200,000 barrels per day, which is an increase of 200,700,000 barrels from October 2013.
On Thursday, OPEC's official site reported that daily oil production by its 12 members in the last month fell by more than 226,000 barrels, dipping to 30,235,000 barrels per day. This is in view of their agreement to only produce 30 million barrels per day.
On the other hand, based on OPEC's estimate, the daily international demand for its members' oil this year has only amounted to 29,500,000 barrels, which will be reduced another 200,000 barrels in the coming year.
The same report pegs Iran's crude oil production last month at 2,742,000 barrels, which is a decrease of 30,000 barrels per day compared to the beginning of 2014. The fall in the price of oil has caused a shortfall in the Iranian administration’s budget.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest oil producer, has reduced its daily production by 70,000 barrels since last month.
