LONDON: A rise in output of North American tight oil will not trouble Opec, the group’s secretary general said yesterday, maintaining his view that the new supply source will not significantly impact the group’s market share.
Abdullah Al Badri in London, referred to forecasts of rising production of tight oil, also known as shale, but said that would not be a problem for the 12-member Opec. “I do not think that with this quantity Opec is in trouble,” Badri said.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, sceptical of information available, has been looking more closely at shale oil this year. It decided in May to carry out its own investigation on shale’s potential.
Already, the US shale boom has altered the landscape of oil trade. For example, Opec members Nigeria and Algeria have seen demand for their crude fall in the US, the world’s top consumer, because of growing domestic supply.
But this need not alarm core Opec members such as Saudi Arabia in the longer run, according to a senior International Energy Agency (IEA) official also at the conference.
Reuters
