Morocco World News with Maghreb Intelligence
Morocco World News with Maghreb Intelligence
Rabat, December 16, 2012
Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines is absolutely furious and accuses Saudi Arabia (behind closed doors) of exceeding its quota of oil production. According to Youcef Yousfi, Riyadh secretly increased its daily production in order to help the United States, which reduced the price of the barrel by $20 in five months.
Oil prices currently prevailing on international markets -107 dollars a barrel, are considered to be “fair” by Saudi Arabia, unlike Algeria which sells a barrel for 128 dollars to save the fragile social peace that is bought thanks to public subsidies.
“If oil prices continue to decrease, the Algerian economy which depends heavily on exports of hydrocarbons may fail, threatening the political stability of the country,” says an expert from the OPEC.
Algerians sent several messages to Saudi officials to ask them to meet their quotas. For now, Riyadh remained unmoved to Algiers’ requests, and the Algerian government is now concerned that the demand for oil will go down even more in 2013, a nightmare scenario for Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s country.
