Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa on Wednesday pressed demands for action on an oil supply glut and higher investment to stabilise the market as an informal OPEC meeting in Algiers began.
“We must act on supply to re-stabilise the market” which has been hit by a massive surplus that has dragged prices down to record lows in the past two years, Boutarfa told a news conference following an International Energy Forum meeting.
“This energy market needs regulating a little. The law of supply and demand is not being applied rationally,” Boutarfa added just prior to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting.
“Today, we cannot go on in an erratic fashion because if we do, we cannot prepare for the future,” he ventured, voicing concern at a falloff in investment in the sector owing to the long slump in prices.
