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VIENNA (AP) — The price of crude remains too low for most OPEC member nations. But with the 12-nation cartel's control of supply and demand slipping, its oil ministers may have little choice this week but to sit back and do nothing.
Ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meet in Vienna Friday against a backdrop of oil prices that are off the lows of January — but still nearly 50 percent less than peaks of $115 a barrel a year ago for some grades.
Past OPEC solutions were simple — cut production and drive prices upward.
But the days of near total OPEC dominance are over. The organization still accounts for about 40 percent of world supply, but others now stand ready to chip away at its share. With prices for benchmark U.S. crude now at around $60 a barrel, any decline in OPEC output will be quickly filled by outside players including U.S shale oil producers, who have cut back as prices have fallen but are ready to ramp up their share should they rise.
Faced with that option, OPEC will likely opt to keep its target at 30 million barrels a day.
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