"Well, in adhering to its long-established 30 million b/d ceiling, OPEC, for one, is making its contribution," it said, adding that OPEC had stressed repeatedly that it could not -- and should not be expected to -- solve the problems of the oil market by itself.

"OPEC Secretary General [Abdalla] El-Badri has said at international energy fora that the organization stands ready to talk to anyone -- if it achieves the common desire of attaining a fair and orderly oil market that benefits all stakeholders. Surely, in this growing multilateral world, and particularly at this testing juncture, a combined and coordinated approach is increasingly required if the current challenges are to be overcome," OPEC said.

The commentary said OPEC would continue to produce in line with its 30 million b/d ceiling through the first half of this year.

On Thursday, OPEC released its latest monthly oil supply and demand forecasts, slashing its previous projections of the call on its crude by 590,000 b/d to 27.75 million b/d in the first three months of 2015.

It estimated December production from all 12 members at 30.2 million b/d, nearly 2.5 million more than first-quarter demand for OPEC crude.

NOT UNIVERSALLY POPULAR

OPEC's decision not to cut output was driven by Saudi Arabia, with support from Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar. It has not been universally popular and has been heavily criticized by Venezuela and Iran in particular. Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi said in December that the kingdom and OPEC were not prepared to lose market share to rising non-OPEC production, even if oil prices fell to $20/b.

Brent, which traded at $115/b in mid-June, settled at $48.27/b on Thursday and was ranging between $48.07/b and $50.16/b on Friday.

Earlier Friday, the International Energy Agency said n its monthly oil market report that a price recovery was not imminent but that project delays and faster decline rates would affect supply "further down the road" as the low prices drove companies to cut their budgets and postpone or cancel new projects while trying to squeeze the most out of producing fields.

Nevertheless, the IEA said, "expectations of non-OPEC supply growth for 2015 have already been downgraded, with growth for the year adjusted downwards by 350,000 b/d since last month's report and more steeply so for [the second half of] 2015," with Columbia and Canada leading the declines.

"Expectations of US light, tight oil production growth have also been revisited, but so far the cuts do not exceed 80,000 b/d compared with our already conservative previous estimates, as many producers appear to be well hedged against short-term price drops," it said.

The IEA said it was clear that the global oil market was undergoing a historic shift.

"OPEC's embrace of market forces last November is a game changer. So is the US light, tight oil revolution. Thanks to its short lead-time and low upfront capital costs, LTO may prove quicker to ramp up production than conventional supply," it said.

"Oil's place in the global energy mix is also transforming," it said, adding: "While there might be light at the end of the tunnel for producers as far as prices are concerned, the next few years could nevertheless prove a period of reckoning for a market and an industry that...have had to periodically reinvent themselves."

--Margaret McQuaile, margaret.mcquaile@platts.com
--Edited by Jonathan Dart, jonathan.dart@platts.com