| Oil prices are now too low for most OPEC countries to cover their spending needs, a Reuters survey shows. Although the cost of getting oil out of the ground is low in most countries in the cartel, growing social spending and ambitious infrastructure plans mean many oil producers now earnless from their oil sales than they need to fund their budgets.
The weighted average of oil prices collected by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was $106 a barrel last year - just enough to cover the average budget requirements of the group, according to figures compiled by one team of analysts, who declined to be identified. But oil prices are falling, and the OPEC crude oil basket price was just $100.88 a barrel on Wednesday, the OPEC Secretariat calculates...............................................Full Article: Source
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