OPEC Decision on Daily Oil Output Freeze to Have No Impact on Shell's Strategy

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) agreement to freeze daily oil output will not affect Royal Dutch Shell 's current strategy, a spokesman for one of the world's largest oil companies told Sputnik on Thursday.

On Wednesday, OPEC oil producing countries agreed a preliminary deal on the sidelines of an international energy forum in Algiers, Algeria. The output ceiling was set at 32.5-33 million barrels a day for the whole cartel. The date of oil output freeze is expected to be presented at the cartel's upcoming meeting in November. OPEC also decided to establish a technical committee to identify the production volume of individuals member countries.

"The OPEC decision doesn’t alter our strategy of managing our financial framework through the down-cycle by reducing costs, delivering lower and more predictable investment levels, delivering our divestment programme and focusing on starting up profitable new projects," the spokesman said.

Global oversupply and stagnating demand have caused oil prices to plunge from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $30 per barrel in January 2016. Prices recovered amid Nigerian, Canadian and Venezuelan output outages and growing demand in May, reaching a peak of over $50 per barrel in early June.

Crude prices are currently fluctuating between $40 and $50 per barrel.