Prices have fallen from more than $110 a barrel in the summer of 2014
to less than $37 a barrel now due to oversupply and slowing demand.
But Opec said oil prices would begin to rise next year and, longer term, would rise due to higher exploration costs.
It expects the market share of Opec producers to shrink by 2020 as rivals prove more resilient than expected.
The group currently accounts for about 30% of the world's oil production, down from 50% in the 1970s.
Part
of the reason for this decline is the emergence of vast quantities of
shale oil produced in the US. This has also been factor in pushing down
the price of oil to 11-year lows.
In its World Oil Outlook report,
Opec said it expected supply growth from US shale to slow dramatically
next year, as producers struggled to cope with such a low prices.
Opec's
strategy this year has been to allow prices to fall by maintaining
production in the hope that, eventually, US shale producers will be
forced out of business.
Another
factor in low prices, Opec said, was weaker economic growth,
particularly in developing economies. It highlighted China, where the
"economy seems to be maturing and growth is decelerating faster than
previously expected".
Price rebound
The
report also highlighted the "huge reductions" in spending on
exploration and production by the industry as a whole due to low oil
prices.
These cutbacks will ultimately see supply fall, it said, putting upward pressure on prices.
Another
longer-term factor pushing prices up, Opec said, was higher exploration
costs, as companies are forced to look harder for oil as traditional
supply sources dwindle. Deep water drilling, for example, is
considerably more expensive than drilling onshore.
Finally, Opec
said population and economic growth would see demand for energy rise by
almost a half by 2040, increasing demand for oil.
Opec was founded in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
These
countries have since been joined by Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962),
Libya (1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria
(1971), Ecuador (1973), Gabon (1975) and Angola (2007).
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