Saudi to push OPEC to lift oil output, cut prices (Reuters)

Gulf Arab OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia will push for an increase in supplies at a meeting of the oil cartel this week in an effort to support flagging world economic growth by bringing crude prices back below $100 a barrel.

Brent crude oil hit a four-week high above US$112 per barrel on Wednesday after the U.S. Congress approved a deal to avert a fiscal crisis, while promising data from top energy consumer China also supported prices. The United States averted economic calamity when lawmakers approved a deal preventing huge tax hikes and spending cuts that would have pushed the world’s largest economy off the “fiscal cliff” into recession.

Iraq is sharpening a push to sell its swelling crude output and sit at oil’s top table with Saudi Arabia, sweetening terms for contract buyers next year, its customers say. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi held court to oil executives in Vienna’s Hotel Imperial last week on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting. Some buyers have said they were concerned by higher prices and variable quality.

Brent crude will hover around US$100 a barrel for the next two years, a Reuters poll showed after analysts slashed their forecasts for the oil price to reflect ample supply and sluggish economic growth. Brent crude oil will average US$107.60 per barrel this year, Reuters monthly oil price survey for April predicted on Tuesday, down from US$110.80 in last month’s poll and below last year’s average price of US$111.70.

Brent crude oil sank below $101 a barrel on Monday to a nine-month low after bleak Chinese and U.S. data stoked worries of a slowdown in economic growth in the world’s top oil consumers. China’s economic recovery unexpectedly stumbled in the first three months of 2013, with growth easing to 7.7% from 7.9% in the final quarter of last year. Economists had forecast 8% growth.

Saudi Arabia needs an oil price that allows it to meet its long-term fiscal targets while not incentivizing investment in new sources of energy, according to HSBC researchers.

Worldwide shale oil production could add $2.7-trillion to the global economy annually by 2035 by slashing the price of crude by as much as $50 a barrel, PwC said on Thursday. Shale oil production could surge to 14 million barrels per day, or as much as 12 percent of total oil output from around 1 percent now, as it expands from its U.S. base over the next two decades, the world’s largest accounting firm said in a report.

You know, gasoline prices are supposed to climb as we head into summer, but things are getting a bit ridiculous! Gasoline prices are up nearly $1.06 a gallon from last year, and it's not even summer yet. Why is this happening? Well, the Arab nations of OPEC are fighting ...