Ecuador Promotes OPEC Meeting Amid Oil Price Crisis

The proposal for an emergency OPEC meeting has finally been approved by Ecuador, as confirmed by Oil Minister Carlos Pareja. He told Reuters, "We want a new meeting to see if we can make a decision together, but it has to be a decision made by all of us."

Ecuador President Rafael Correa has already admitted to being tired of dealing with the OPEC issues. He told VOA News that his government is "tired" of pushing the organziation to decrease output. He said, "With a small cut in production, the price could rise a lot. Why don't they do it? I'm tired of insisting."

Senior OPEC and Russian oil industry officials stepped up to try fixing what is said to be among the worst supply in decades, and Saudi Arabia has signaled to allow the market to balance.

Meanwhile, the rest of the OPEC countries are still clashing over the emergency meeting, with Iran claiming that the time is not yet right for such interventions.

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who made the call for the emergency meeting, was sympathetic to the qualms of Nigeria and other such OPEC members who are struggling with the oil prices.

Kachikwu stated that in its current state, the oil industry still produces about one-third of the world's oil, and still needs to do something more proactive.

Iran's reason for disallowing the emergency meeting is the fact that the organization currently has little intention in making drastic changes, making the impact of the meeting more negative. The country's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said, "There should be an intention to make a firm decision in such a meeting; otherwise, the meeting will have negative impacts on world oil markets. The important thing is that there must be an intention for change, but we have not yet received such a signal."

Leadership Nigeria noted that oil prices have fallen lately due to over supply. Iraq's oil ministry, for instance, reached an all-time high in December, when the fields in central and southern regions produced over 4.13 million barrels a day, and the oversupply has wiped out most of the gains made. Brent Crude said that oil is down 83 cents, and closing in at $31.35. This means that the oil has been losing 2.5 percent from its last closing price.

OPEC Secretary-general Abdullah al-Badri said in a London conference, "It is vital the market addresses the issue of the stock overhang. As you can see from previous cycles, once this overhang starts falling, then prices start to rise."