OPEC Annual Report 2007

Today I got the OPEC Annual Report 2007 in the mail box (old fashion mail box) and I concluded that this is a report that most persons don’t care about. But the fact is that we should do that as we al depend on OPEC in one way or the other. In the foreword Abdalla Salem El-Badri, Secretary General tell us that the problem we see is just problem with the US dollar, geopolitical tensions, etc:

“On market developments, the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) averaged US$ 69.08 per barrel for the year. Beginning with an average of US$ 54.63/b for the first quarter, it rose to US$ 64.97/b during the second quarter, US$ 71.59/b the third quarter and US$ 85.07/b in the final quarter. Yet this steady rise in crude oil prices was happening at a period when the oil market was well supplied. For most of the year, for example, OECD oil stocks were above their five-year average. The major factors that were driving the market were the continued slide in the value of the major currency in which oil is traded (the United States dollar), geopolitical tensions, refinery outages, weather related problems and the activities of speculators. All of these factors contributed to the volatility that characterized the market during the year. This notwithstanding, the global economy performed well, achieving a 5.2 per cent rise.”

The whole report can be downloaded and I think you should read it. We must know how the oil producing countries look at the situation.

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Kjell Aleklett, President of ASPO