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 Saudi Arabia is prepared to increase output and gain market share by
meeting the demands of any new customers, Monday's edition of the
Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper quoted the kingdom's oil minister Ali
al-Naimi as saying.
On Sunday Naimi said lower crude prices would help demand by
stimulating the economy.
Brent fell 23 cents to $61.15 by 1215 GMT. It is down more than 46
percent from the year's peak in June above $115 per barrel. U.S.
crude was down 28 cents at $56.85 a barrel.
"We are going down because you have some OPEC ministers who come
every day making statements trying to drive the market down, said
Olivier Jakob, an oil analyst at Petromatrix Oil in Zug,
Switzerland.
"They come every day to convey the message that they are not doing
anything to restrict supplies and that they basically want oil
prices to move lower to reduce production in the U.S."
OPEC's decision not to reduce production at a meeting in November
sped up the decline in already falling oil prices. Prospects for a
cut in the near future look remote.
While analysts said Brent would likely remain above $60 a barrel
this year, they said further large jumps in price were unlikely.
Analysts said that the price drop would have only a gradual impact
on the outlook for production.
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"Given the lead time in permit approval and rig construction ahead
of oil production, a sizeable negative U.S. supply response given
the price drop is unlikely to take place until late 2015, which
places further downward pressure on oil prices in the first six
months of next year," National Australia Bank said in a note.
It said it expected Brent and U.S. crude to average $68 and $64 per
barrel respectively in 2015.
Analysts also said they expected relatively low price volatility for
the rest of the year as traders begin to wind down their 2014
positions.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Ahmed
Aboulenein in London; editing by Jason Neely)
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