DAVOS - The shock decision by OPEC to maintain production levels despite plummeting oil prices was based purely on economic considerations and not directed at any particular country, the cartel's secretary-general Abdullah El-Badri said on Wednesday.
"It's not directed at the United States or tight oil. It's not directed to Russia ... It is a pure economic decision by our ministers and we supported it," El-Badri told a panel audience at the Davos ski resort.
Theories have run wild ever since OPEC ministers decided in November to stand pat on oil supply despite a fast sinking price that has fallen by over 50% since June.
The plunge in the oil price is becoming an urgent problem for oil producers, especially those whose economies are wholly dependent on the sector.
The IMF on Wednesday warned that the price drop will cost the powerful energy exporters of the Gulf Cooperation Council around $300 billion, threatening to send many into budget deficits.
Of the major exporters of the GCC, the International Monetary Fund predicted in a new report that only Kuwait would maintain a budget surplus this year. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will sink into deficits.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015
