ALGIERS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Algeria will host a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in late September, Algerian Energy Minister Mustapha Guitouni said Thursday.
"This meeting will allow the OPEC countries to consult and work together to maintain the stability of the oil market," Qitouni told a news conference in Algiers.
The minister said that oil prices are "very volatile" because of external factors affecting the market, but they will stabilize automatically after achieving the balance between supply and demand.
He pointed to the agreement between the OPEC countries and non-OPEC countries such as Russia in December 2016 on the withdrawal of 1.8 million barrels per day from the market, which allowed the strengthening of prices between 70 and 80 dollars a barrel.
On the situation of the energy sector in Algeria and the effects of the global market after the decline in oil prices since 2014, the minister confirmed that all data indicate that the sector is going well in Algeria.
Qitouni noted that the growth rate of oil revenues rose by about 20 percent in 2017 compared to 2016.
He said that the investment in the oil sector in Algeria amounted to 8.5 billion dollars in 2017 against a stagnation between 2014 to 2016.
The minister also stressed that Algeria does not intend to exploit the shale gas before 2030.
