PARIS
The recovery period for the price of oil will be much longer than expected, said the former Algerian energy minister and current president of Nalcosa, an energy consulting firm based in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday.
"The world is experiencing a crisis worse than the oil crisis of 1970," Nordine Ait-Laoussine said.
Prices have been falling since June of last year although demand hasn't shown a significant increase, he said.
In previous years, OPEC was an important power in controlling the course of oil prices, he said. "Now, OPEC has lost its purpose," he commented.
Instead of having OPEC countries controlling prices, the cartel expects non-OPEC countries to reduce output, he said.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer of OPEC, is not acting responsibly by refusing to control oil prices, while many leaders are pressuring the Saudi king to take action, he added.
"There is an excess amount of oil in the market, and Saudi Arabia is producing more than is necessary to keep its market share," he said.
The country produced over 10 million barrels per day of oil in March, according to OPEC's Thursday oil report. The second-largest producer was Iraq with 3.6 million barrels per day.
Saudi Arabia is facing financial troubles, and those challenges could bring it to act on oil prices, he said. "The overall wealth of the country is slowly deteriorating," he added.
