Mubasher: Capital Economics said it expects OPEC’s meeting in Vienna this week “to pass without any major surprises.”
Oil prices passed $50 per barrel (pb) last week for the first time in 2016, up more than 70% from prices recorded in January, the research firm said in a report released Tuesday.
It added that the rise in prices was likely to make policymakers “a litter happier”.
Capital Economics said it did not expect the OPEC meeting to “conclude with any meaningful agreement.”
“Recent comments from Saudi Arabia’s new Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih suggest that there is a strong possibility that the Kingdom will increase production in the coming months in order to meet domestic demand over the summer,” the report said, noting the coinciding of these comments with Iran’s plans to raise production will thwart any attempt to reconsider the deal to freeze oil output.
