2005 - OPEC

appropriate. The SGO was also concerned with coordinating the Secretariat’s protocol, as well
as organizing the many missions conducted by the Secretary General and other Members of
the Secretariat staff during the course of the year. The SGO also prepared monthly accounts
of the Secretariat’s activities for distribution to Member Countries (MCs).
Research Division
In implementing its activities during 2005 the Research Division (RD) endeavoured to follow
its planned work programme, within the framework of the Medium-Term Programme (MTP), as
well as accommodating additional research requested by the Organization’s various governing
bodies throughout the year.
Close integration of the various departments – the Petroleum Market Analysis Department
(PMAD), the Energy Studies Department (ESD) and the Data Services Department (DSD)
– work activities, alongside a flexible approach, was fundamental in attaining the overall ob-
jectives of the Research Division. These objectives included providing support to the Member
Countries’ (MCs) decision-making processes in key oil policy matters; enhancing cooperation;
and providing input for OPEC’s participation in global fora and multilateral negotiations. The
continued exceptional oil price behaviour in 2005 underlined the critical importance of the
division’s close monitoring of oil market developments, which again resulted in an increased
workload particularly in light of the ever expanding number of Ministerial level meetings held
during the year.
OPEC’s commitment to maintaining market stability was again demonstrated, through OPEC
Conference decisions to further increase production levels by 1 mb/d to over 30 mb/d. Fur-
thermore, MCs implemented costly investment plans during the year with the announcement of
an acceleration in the expansion of crude production capacity, from around 32.5 mb/d to at
least 38 mb/d by 2010, to meet future demand growth; a further indication of OPEC’s ongoing
efforts to promote market stability. In addition, during the fourth quarter OPEC made available
to the market MCs’ spare capacity of around 2 mb/d should this be called for, notwithstand-
ing the acknowledged fact that the market was well-supplied with crude, with commercial oil