All options open for OPEC supply policy in March
February 5, 2008 - 0:0
LONDON (Reuters) -- Senior OPEC officials on Monday downplayed talk of a change in oil output when the group meets again in a month's time, saying a decision would hinge on the health of the global economy.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed at a meeting on Friday to keep output unchanged.But Persian Gulf producer Kuwait said a supply rise would be discussed, while Iran and Venezuela suggested a cut might be in order at the March 5 meeting.
""Everything is possible according to the market. We really cannot decide at this time,"" OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri told reporters on the sidelines of a London energy conference. ""Come March, we will see what we can do.""
The group's president, Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy minister, said it was premature to predict what OPEC would decide in March in Vienna. ""It's too early,"" he told Reuters.
Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah took a similar view. ""All options will be on the table, so it is too early to calculate what we should do in March,"" he said. ""The world economy is not clear yet -- very, very cloudy. I hope by March ... the sky will be more clear.""
Ministers are concerned the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, could tip into recession, eroding demand for fuel, although Khelil said he was not expecting a drastic fall in consumption.
""The additional demand that we would have been able to have this year may be a little bit weaker ... but really not so much (weaker). So we are still counting on fairly considerable demand this year,"" Khelil told Algerian state radio.
He also said weakness in the U.S. economy could have the effect of boosting oil prices because it would weigh on the dollar, making commodities like oil that are priced in dollars relatively cheap.
""It could raise the price of oil due to the fact of the devaluation of the dollar against the euro and of lower interest rates by the U.S. central bank,"" Khelil said.
The leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that oil output policy would depend on the level of world oil inventories at the time of the March meeting.