Oil kingpin Saudi calls for talks with consumer countries
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia), June 10 (AFP): Oil kingpin Saudi Arabia called Monday for talks with consumer nations on soaring world prices and reiterated its readiness to meet any increase in demand.
The Saudi call was swiftly welcomed by the United States, which has expressed mounting concern about the impact of high-energy costs on the world economy, and by Britain.
At a meeting chaired by King Abdullah, the Saudi cabinet restated its view that the leap in prices that saw New York's benchmark contract hit a record 138.54 dollars Friday was unjustified by fundamentals.
But it added that it had asked Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi to "convene a meeting soon of representatives of producer and consumer nations and firms operating in the production, export and trading of oil to discuss the jump in prices, its causes and how to deal with it objectively".
"Saudi Arabia ... has notified all oil companies with which it does business, as well as consumer nations, of its readiness to provide them with any additional quantities of oil they need," added the cabinet statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
The Saudi cabinet said it still believed that soaring prices "are not justified by the reality of the oil sector or market fundamentals".
"As a producer nation, Saudi Arabia knows that the oil market has an adequate supply of crude and mounting stocks to trade," the SPA report said.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson swiftly welcomed the Saudi call for talks with energy-hungry consumer nations.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown "welcomes this announcement from Saudi Arabia, which Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks will discuss when he visits Saudi Arabia later this week," a statement from Brown's Downing Street office said.
"This initiative echoes the call from the British Government for enhanced dialogue and meetings between oil producer and consumer nations.
During a visit to Riyadh in May, US President George W. Bush called on the Saudi authorities for the second time in four months to put pressure on fellow OPEC producers to boost production.
Washington has repeatedly blamed OPEC's refusal to raise its output ceiling for the five-fold surge in world prices since 2003.
Another report from Singapore adds: Crude oil rose in Asia today despite a call by the world's leading producer, Saudi Arabia, for talks with consumer nations on soaring prices.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, gained 57 cents to 134.92 dollars a barrel. The contract slid 4.19 dollars a barrel to close at 134.35 dollars Monday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for July delivery rose 44 cents to 134.35 dollars a barrel, after a fall of 3.78 dollars to 133.91 dollars in London Monday.
On Friday, the two-benchmark crude oil futures contracts hit record all-time highs of 139.12 dollars in New York and 138.12 dollars in London. The New York contract had its largest price jump on record - 10.7Copper drops on dollar strength, zinc hits 2.5 yr low
Tue, Jun 10 2008, 12:38 GMT
http://www.afxnews.com
The Saudi call was swiftly welcomed by the United States, which has expressed mounting concern about the impact of high-energy costs on the world economy, and by Britain.
At a meeting chaired by King Abdullah, the Saudi cabinet restated its view that the leap in prices that saw New York's benchmark contract hit a record 138.54 dollars Friday was unjustified by fundamentals.
But it added that it had asked Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi to "convene a meeting soon of representatives of producer and consumer nations and firms operating in the production, export and trading of oil to discuss the jump in prices, its causes and how to deal with it objectively".
"Saudi Arabia ... has notified all oil companies with which it does business, as well as consumer nations, of its readiness to provide them with any additional quantities of oil they need," added the cabinet statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
The Saudi cabinet said it still believed that soaring prices "are not justified by the reality of the oil sector or market fundamentals".
"As a producer nation, Saudi Arabia knows that the oil market has an adequate supply of crude and mounting stocks to trade," the SPA report said.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson swiftly welcomed the Saudi call for talks with energy-hungry consumer nations.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown "welcomes this announcement from Saudi Arabia, which Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks will discuss when he visits Saudi Arabia later this week," a statement from Brown's Downing Street office said.
"This initiative echoes the call from the British Government for enhanced dialogue and meetings between oil producer and consumer nations.
During a visit to Riyadh in May, US President George W. Bush called on the Saudi authorities for the second time in four months to put pressure on fellow OPEC producers to boost production.
Washington has repeatedly blamed OPEC's refusal to raise its output ceiling for the five-fold surge in world prices since 2003.
Another report from Singapore adds: Crude oil rose in Asia today despite a call by the world's leading producer, Saudi Arabia, for talks with consumer nations on soaring prices.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, gained 57 cents to 134.92 dollars a barrel. The contract slid 4.19 dollars a barrel to close at 134.35 dollars Monday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for July delivery rose 44 cents to 134.35 dollars a barrel, after a fall of 3.78 dollars to 133.91 dollars in London Monday.
On Friday, the two-benchmark crude oil futures contracts hit record all-time highs of 139.12 dollars in New York and 138.12 dollars in London. The New York contract had its largest price jump on record - 10.7Copper drops on dollar strength, zinc hits 2.5 yr low
Tue, Jun 10 2008, 12:38 GMT
http://www.afxnews.com