(Ecofin Agency) - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has announced that there is enough crude oil and natural gas globally to feed demands, Dr Abdallah Salem El-Badri, the corporation’s Secretary General revealed.

El-Badri stated that a recent study performed for the outstanding ultimately recoverable oil resources confirms it to be about 2.8 trillion bbls.

“It should be underscored that despite the continuing cumulative production, these numbers have increased over the past five decades. Moreover, these numbers do not take into account the large amounts of available unconventional oil and gas resources. Of course, as well as opportunities, there will be challenges too. For instance, there is the global economy, human resources, technology, investments and the environment and climate change. In terms of the environment and climate change – we need to remember that this is a concern for us all”, he said.

The prices of crude oil dipped further to $42 on Monday in Asia, ahead of an OPEC meeting.

The meeting which is to take place on Friday, December 4, 2015 is anticipated to focus on key areas including worldwide crude oversupply, Iran’s return to the oil market after sanctions were lifted and whether OPEC will slash production to lift prices.

“We expect the focus to return to the timing of the US interest rate rise, with two key speeches by Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, on Wednesday and Thursday. However, comments from key OPEC ministers still seem relatively sanguine. Also, it is not clear that even if OPEC did cut its production target, actual output would fall, given the cartel is already producing well above its current target,” Capital Economics told National Mirror.

According to OPEC’s Secretariat calculations, the corporation’s basket of 12 crudes stood at $39.08/bbls on Friday November 27, 2015, compared with $39.65 the previous day.