OPEC: Wir wollen keinen hohen Preis, wir wollen einen stabilen Preis
Opec expects output hike from February
New Delhi |Reuters | 10-01-2003
Opec President Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said yesterday he expected any agreement to raise the group's crude output to become effective on February 1.
Attiyah, also oil minister for Qatar, said Opec would reverse any production increase once the continuing strike in Venezuela was resolved and overseas oil sales resume from the world's fifth largest exporter.
"As soon as Venezuela comes back, for sure, Opec will come back to cut production to accommodate Venezuela and create a balance between demand and supply," Attiyah told Reuters in an interview.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is schedule to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the size of an output hike to fill the supply gap created by the five-week Venezuela strike.
Officials have touted an increase of between one million and two million barrels per day on top of the group's current production ceiling of 23 million bpd.
Asked when any decision made on Sunday might be implemented, Attiyah said: "I think February 1."
Al Attiyah said members were still discussing the size of an increase in official production limits, which would be decided at an emergency meeting at the weekend.
"I don't have a magic number. There are all kinds of numbers being talked about - two million, 1.5 million, all these will be under discussion when we meet," Attiyah told reporters on the sidelines of the Petrotech 2003 conference in New Delhi.
Opec agreed last month to raise its formal production ceiling to 23 million barrels per day and many member countries are pumping at or near full capacity.
Attiyah, who is also Qatar's oil minister, said that major non-group producers would not be able to contribute to a rise in global supplies.
"Unfortunately, we received a message from Russia, Mexico and Norway saying that they cannot increase their production," he said.
The Venezuelan outage has left crude prices cruising around $30 a barrel since early December and analysts fear a U.S.-led war in oil exporter Iraq may disrupt world supplies further and lead to an oil price shock that could damage the fragile global economy.
"We are not looking for a very high price, we're looking for a stable price," Attiyah said.
