South Korea is enjoying cheap crude prices even though some industrial sectors, such as those of petrochemicals and oil plant construction, are estimated to have suffered sales slowdowns.

Crude prices, which have stayed below $50 a barrel since July 2015, have eased costs for a large portion of manufacturers and households. Prices are now staying at about $30 a barrel.

However, there are signs that oil prices could reverse direction, as some producers on Tuesday effectively agreed to refrain from engaging in reckless competition to increase output.

In Doha, Russia and three of the 11 OPEC members -- Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela -- reached a consensus on leading an effort to freeze output at January levels. Though they have yet to reach a consensus on scaling back petroleum production, market expectations for a reduction are likely to grow as time goes on.

Their decision on a freeze could signal that an era of beneficial prices for Korea -- which depends entirely on imports for its oil consumption -- might end in the coming months. Some global petroleum producers, including OPEC members, have already expressed discontent over sliding prices.

Following Venezuela’s call for negotiations on reducing crude output, the United Arab Emirates, a key OPEC member, clarified earlier this month that it was ready to tackle a devastating supply glut.

Amid this situation, more and more speculators are betting on a sharp rebound in prices, predicting that producers will cut their output in the near future. They began downplaying the huge stockpiles held by the U.S., Middle Eastern countries and others, which have continued to pull down prices.

Some critics remain pessimistic over a reduction. They cite Saudi’s full-fledged production battles with U.S. shale gas manufacturers and the coming restoration of Iranian oil exports after years of sanctions. Russia also appears lukewarm about a reduction, fearing that production at some facilities may have to be suspended under a reduction accord.

But the core factor causing the oil producers’ recent meetings is that some of them are seeing their fiscal soundness critically worsening due to low oil margins. A case in point is Venezuela, one of the two OPEC members in South America.

Korea’s economic policymakers should become alert to the situation that daily crude futures prices sometimes shoot up about 5-10 percent, bouyed by remarks hinting at an output cut from some energy-related ministers in the Mideast or others. 

Certainly, prices are repeating ups and downs as the market is also affected by some analysts’ comments still forecasting a longer-than-expected cheap oil era. But a noteworthy point is that the daily prices falls have apparently been limited recently -- on the back of traders’ growing speculation that the futures prices have already hit the bottom.