OPEC weekly oil price falls again

The weekly average price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped again last week, falling to 72.01 U.S. dollars a barrel, said the Vienna-based cartel said Monday.

OPEC oil price kept dropping for five consecutive days last week, falling back to less than 70 dollars a barrel on the last trading day, which was 69.63 U.S. dollars as the lowest point since June 7.

The recently concluded G-20 Notice and the latest economic figures released last week showed that global economic growth may slow down, which leads to increasing concerns.

In particular, a series of recent disappointing economic figures of the United States, coupled with the significant decline in Dow Jones Indices, as the global financial vane which fell below 9,800 points, are important factors driving oil prices down.

In addition, according to the figures, although OPEC member countries (excluding Iraq) increased their completion of cutting production quotas from 49 percent in May to 52 percent in June this year, OPEC daily average output still reached 26.865 million barrels in June, 2.02 million barrels above the production target.

However, July is normally the peak season of oil prices. On one hand, because the oil consumption this month increases, resulting in growth in crude oil demand. On the other hand, the frequent typhoons in summer often affect the stability of oil supply.

Source:Xinhua