In Focus: International oil Prices & PPL Dividend announcement (22122008)

OPEC cut oil production by 2.46 million barrels per day..
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps 40 percent of the world’s oil on Wednesday 17 Dec, 08 agreed to cut output by 2.46 million barrels per day from January 1st to counter oil drop from record high $147 a barrel in July.
Oil prices declined to four year low…
Crude oil prices slump to $34 a barrel during last week, the lowest price since June 2004, due to global recession and swelling in US inventories during the period.
OPEC says consumption will drop 0.2% VS U.S. Energy department 0.5%...
As OPEC said in its Dec, 15 report, world oil consumption next year will drop by 0.2 percent to 85.68 million barrels a day, while the U.S. Energy Department said on Dec. 9 that global demand will decline 0.5 percent to 85.3 million barrels a day. In any case, we are observing substantial decline in international oil prices during last five months.
Slow down in world economic growth...
The forecast for the global economy in 2009 has been slashed to 1.5%, where US growth for 2009 is now forecasted at –1.3%, Euro-zone –1.0% and Japan –1.7%. However, developing countries are now expected to grow at 3.7%, where China as a key player expected to registered growth of 7.0% and India is forecasted to grow 5.8% during 2009.
Oil prices would remain stagnant…
Going forward, we expect oil prices would remain in the range of $40 to $50 per barrel in next six months, due to overall slow down in world economic growth specially US economy and Japan.