Company's Hayward backs OPEC's decision to defend market share

Pulse Staff 08:54 - 27 October 2015

Chairman Tony Hayward of mining and commodity trading company Glencore Xstrata is seen during the company's company's annual shareholder meeting in the central Swiss town of Zug May 20, 2014. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

"I think we do need to be prepared for a period of sustained low prices absent any form of intervention," he told an African oil and gas conference in Cape Town.

Oil cartel OPEC's decision to defend market share to counter a U.S. shale boom was "completely rational" and a sustained period of low prices was on the cards, Glencore's Chairman Tony Hayward said on Tuesday.

Hayward said low prices had stimulated demand - expected this year to be 2 million barrels a day of incremental increases over 2014 - but Iran and Libya were wild cards that could affect global supply and demand dynamics.