| As oil prices slid further downward Thursday, OPEC signaled that it isn’t ready to hit the panic button—yet. Oil’s more-than-25% decline since the summer has led to speculation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries—whose crude accounts for around a third of global oil supply—would cut its output to try to support prices, especially as some of the group’s members grow fearful of the likely hit to their government budgets.
At a news conference in Vienna on Thursday, OPEC secretary-general Abdalla Salem el-Badri said the group is “concerned, but we are not panicking.” Mr. el-Badri blamed market speculators for the sharp oil price drop, saying “fundamentals don’t deserve this price decline.”..............................................Full Article: Source
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