OPEC to Restrategise on Production Freeze, Says Kachikwu

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said that member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will go back to the drawing board to work out the best approaches to shore up prices of crude oil on the international market.

Kachikwu, who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said after the disappointing meeting of the cartel last Sunday in Doha where they failed to agree on production freeze, they will continue to push until they achieve a consensus that will eventually see to output freeze among oil producers.

He added that he will at the next meeting of the oil producers in Vienna present the issue again for deliberation.

A statement from the Group General Manager Public Affairs of NNPC, Garuba Deen Muhammad Monday in Abuja stated that Kachikwu said this to journalists after the meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers.

Kachikwu, in the statement stressed that OPEC must work at achieving a workable consensus on the issue by bringing everybody on the negotiating table.

“We are just going to work at it. It is a supply and demand issue and we need to consult and bring everybody into the circle and thank God that a committee is now in place to try and work towards getting everybody on board,” said Kachikwu.

He said once every member country of OPEC is brought on board, it would become easier to convince other major oil producers to sign-up to the production freeze policy.

According to him, the policy is designed to remedy lingering decline in the price of crude oil in the international

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