OPEC's Smallest Member Rewrites Oil Law
Equatorial Guinea will next week pass a new package of favorable terms for oil explorers, aiming to increase investment and halt a steep fall in output. The OPEC member will approve a new hydrocarbon law on Monday that the hydrocarbons minister said brings competitiveness and flexibility to contractual terms for oil companies. Its crude output was 20,000 barrels a day in September, down from 140,000 barrels a day six years earlier, and the IMF projects a 1.7% GDP decline this year.
Why it matters: The revision is a case of energy investment policy aimed at reversing output decline, with implications for oil-market supply.