Kuwait Cabinet Calls For Steps To Address Oil Price Slide

Kuwait’s cabinet called for practical steps to address the slide in oil prices on Sunday at a special session convened to examine weakening energy markets, official media in the petroleum-dependent OPEC member country reported.

“They stressed the necessity of initiating practical measures to face the impact of potential further decline in prices and remedying the existing economic imbalances,” the official KUNA news agency reported, referring to officials.

It did not say what the practical steps were.

Participants reviewed a report on prices submitted by Minister of Oil Ali al-Omair and senior officials at the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and discussed “the potential risks and implications of the drop in state revenue, the budget and on the national economy and economic plan in general”, KUNA said.

Kuwait has one of the strongest fiscal positions among the Gulf oil exporters; it needs a crude oil price of just $54 per barrel for its state budget to break even, according to the International Monetary Fund.

But its heavy dependence on oil income makes its economy more vulnerable to lower crude oil prices and output. Benchmark brent crude LCOc1 dipped under $80 per barrel last week, a four-year low, compared with a June high above $115.