The geopolitical developments and the global oil reserves situation are the reason for the fluctuating oil prices between around US$110 pb in 2012 and about US$66 recently, said OPEC’s secretariat. Since the signing of the Vienna Convention 2016 by the oil exporting countries from within and outside OPEC, which provides for the reduction of production in order to maintain fair prices that take into account the interests of producers and exporters, the prices of OPEC basket returned to a reasonable level, said OPEC in its annual statistical bulletin.
The bulletin underlined that when calculating the average price of OPEC’s monthly basket, the price of crude oil in the first six months of 2019 amounted to US$58.74 pb in January then went up to US$63.83 pb in February and it continued to rise to US$66.37 pb in March, reaching a record high of US$70.78 pb in April. At the same time, the prices of the OPEC basket of crude oil prices recorded a slight decline in May to reach about US$70 pb before falling more clearly in June to US$61.18 pb.
Economic analysts have linked the sharp drop in the price of OPEC’s monthly basket of crude to the rise in US and Gulf crude reserves, as well as fears of a global economic slowdown as a result of a political crisis a few months ago between Washington and Iran. On the annual average price of crude, the statistical bulletin said that this year it reached US$74.74 pb compared to US$69,78 pb in 2018 and US$52.43 pb in 2017 and US$ 40.76 pb in 2016 and US$49.4 pb in 2015. The average price in 2014 was about US$96.99 per barrel, compared to US$105.97 pb in 2013 and US$109.45 pb in 2012.