Oil prices have collapsed because of the actions of the United States and other non-Opec countries, not because the oil cartel decided against cutting output, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said.
In a thinly veiled attack on the US and other producers not in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Ali al-Naimi blamed the near halving in the oil price since July on “the lack of co-operation from other producers outside Opec”.
Speaking at a conference of Opec ministers in Abu Dhabi, he reaffirmed the cartel’s plans to keep production at current levels of 30 million barrels per day. Oil prices have fallen from $114 per barrel in June to $61, as it became clear that the market was oversupplied owing to US shale production