The Secretary-General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday declared that he wants non-OPEC oil producers to help in curbing the global supply glut.

“It is vital the market addresses the issue of the stock overhang. It should be viewed as something OPEC and non-OPEC tackle together,” Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said at a conference in London.

He added that it is important that all major producers put heads together and come up with a solution to glut. El-Badri noted that there are indications that supply and demand will begin to come back into balance this year quoting a predicted rise in global demand of approximately 1.3 million bpd and a reduction in non-OPEC supply of around 660,000 a day.

The prices of crude oil dropped to the lowest this month as supply overrides demand. Brent oil is down about 16 % this year as instability in global markets increases worry over U.S’s overflowing supplies as well as the prospect of further Iranian exports after international sanctions were lifted.

El-Badri believes that the falling prices are putting future investment in new oil supply at risk.

“New barrels are needed not only to increase production but to accommodate for decline rates from existing fields,” he said.

According to Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia has refused to rein in production as it hunts a strategy to defend market share and pressure rival producers with lower prices. It has vowed not to reverse course unless non-OPEC nations fulfil their obligations in production cuts, an opinion in which El-Badri supports.

Anita Fatunji