KUWAIT: Fossil-based fuel will form 75 percent of global energy by 2035, according to expectations of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The remarks were made by Kuwait's Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Khaled Al-Fadhel during the 103rd meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in Kuwait yesterday. He noted the need for further cooperation to protect the stability of oil markets in the coming months. The meeting comes after a series of key international events in the oil and gas field, including the meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Madrid. It also comes after the recent OPEC Ministerial Meeting in Vienna, where members agreed on further reduction in oil output by 500,000 barrels a day starting next January, said Fadhel.

Stable prices

OPEC's decision to cut an extra 500,000 barrels of oil a day from the global market is likely to create a positive ripple effect on oil prices, Fadhel said. A thaw in the United States' trade war with China, coupled with the major consequences of Brexit have helped restore stability to oil prices well into next year, he told reporters after the meeting. On a gas export deal with Iraq, the minister said the agreement has reached its 'first phase,' and will come into effect once joint feasibility studies are completed. Similarly, he said talks are ongoing between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia pending an agreement on the resumption of oil output in a 'divided zone' between the two Gulf neighbors. OAPEC was established in 1968 and is divided into the Council of Ministers, Executive Bureau, General Secretariat and the Judicial Tribunal. Its members include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.

New Secretary General

OAPEC's Council of Ministers announced in its meeting appointing Kuwaiti candidate Ali Bin Sabt as the new Secretary General of the organization. In a statement following the meeting, Bahraini Minister of Oil Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalifa said, it was approved to hold the next OAPEC Council of Ministers meeting in Kuwait December 13, 2020. Khalifa, who is also the chairperson of the current OAPEC 2019 session, stated that the minutes of the 102nd meeting of the Council of Ministers were approved in addition to adopting the estimated budget project for the organization general secretariat and judiciary for 2020. A new office had been appointed as the organization's auditor for the General Secretariat and the judiciary for the year 2020, he added.

Khalifa also said that it was decided to assign the executive office with submitting a plan to activate and develop the organization's role to be presented to the Council of Ministers meeting and for the General Secretariat to provide the required support to the executive office to carry out its tasks during the year 2020.The meeting also approved to extend Iraq's' period for supervising on the Arab Oil Institute for training for a period of two years, starting from January 2020, he said.

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria will take on the presidency of the next session of the Council of Ministers and the executive office of the organization for one year, starting from the first of January 2020, Khalifa said. The meeting also reviewed number of topics and studies carried out by the General Secretariat of the organization, as well as the role of the organization institutions, OAPEC award for scientific research in the fields of oil and gas, where the award first place was withheld, and the second place granted for research submitted by the Kingdom of Bahrain. - KUNA