The Opec members, by deciding to maintain status quo on output at its meeting in Vienna on Friday, have clearly reiterated their stand to maintain production and defend market share against high-cost rival producers.
The Vienna-headquartered Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries  decided to cap collective oil output at 31.5mn barrels per day (bpd), a level closer to that at which they have effectively been producing in recent months.
As of now, the 13-member group is scheduled to meet only in June, 2016. But Opec president Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, also Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resources, indicated that the organisation might gather again before June, if prices kept falling.
Brent crude is now trading below $45/barrel, having fallen from levels as high as $115/b in June last year.
Nonetheless, Opec believes the worldwide demand for oil will grow in 2016 on the back of a projected global growth of 3.4% compared with 3.1% this year. However, this year’s global growth is lower than earlier predicted mainly due to a deceleration in some emerging and developing countries, particularly the Brics grouping of nations with the exception of India.
Analysts believe the Opec decision will have far-reaching consequences for global oil markets.
A  failure to curb production will extend the supply overhang and could see Brent crude oil sink below $40 a barrel; adding further pressure to the fiscal budgets of oil producing countries, whilst inflicting further misery on the upstream industry.
Falling crude prices helped spur a rout in oil-industry stocks, which were the worst performers on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this year. Its Energy Sector Index has fallen 21% in 2015, while the S&P 500 is up 0.7% as of December 4.
Opec’s secretary-general Abdullah al-Badri said Opec could not agree on any figures because it could not predict how much oil Iran would add to the market next year, as sanctions are withdrawn under a deal reached six months ago with world powers over its nuclear programme.
Iran had clarified its position ahead of the Friday’s meeting with the country’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh saying Tehran would raise supply by at least 1mn barrels per day  -  or 1% of global supply  -  within six months of the lifting of international sanctions imposed on its oil sector, which, according to some Iranian officials, could be as early as January 2016.
A continued decline in global oil prices could create a very challenging situation in countries that rely on oil money. That could in turn create a troubling economic ripple effect worldwide.
A report shows the world is already producing up to 2mn bpd more than it consumes now.  Obviously, the price movement from now on will depend on the global economic recovery, particularly in Europe and the emerging countries, which are essential to ease the glutted global oil markets.