Upbeat OPEC oil men set to hold output steady
Thursday, 10 September 2009
VIENNA, Sept 9 (AFP): OPEC crude producers said they were set to hold output steady at Wednesday's meeting of the cartel, with some hailing a healthy oil market despite a mixed outlook for the world economy.
OPEC's production-monitoring committee late Tuesday formally recommended "no change" to output, and urged moves to boost compliance with agreed cuts instead, Kuwait's oil minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al- Sabah told reporters.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi-whose country is the biggest OPEC oil producer-said: "The market is in very good shape, very well supplied," as he arrived ahead of the meeting.
"The price is good for everybody, consumer (and) producer," so further cuts to output are not needed, he said.
A vicious global economic downturn has sapped demand for energy, dragging crude prices from record highs of above 147 dollars in July 2008 to 32.40 dollars in December. They have since recovered to hover around 70 dollars.
Now ministers from OPEC countries, which are highly dependent on oil exports, must steer a careful course, supporting prices but not alarming markets by trying to do so too aggressively.
Qatar's energy minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiya sounded a note of caution, saying the outlook for oil demand was "very gloomy" and uncertain.
"I don't think now is the right time to cut production," he told reporters here. "We don't want to damage the world economy."
OPEC's production-monitoring committee late Tuesday formally recommended "no change" to output, and urged moves to boost compliance with agreed cuts instead, Kuwait's oil minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al- Sabah told reporters.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi-whose country is the biggest OPEC oil producer-said: "The market is in very good shape, very well supplied," as he arrived ahead of the meeting.
"The price is good for everybody, consumer (and) producer," so further cuts to output are not needed, he said.
A vicious global economic downturn has sapped demand for energy, dragging crude prices from record highs of above 147 dollars in July 2008 to 32.40 dollars in December. They have since recovered to hover around 70 dollars.
Now ministers from OPEC countries, which are highly dependent on oil exports, must steer a careful course, supporting prices but not alarming markets by trying to do so too aggressively.
Qatar's energy minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiya sounded a note of caution, saying the outlook for oil demand was "very gloomy" and uncertain.
"I don't think now is the right time to cut production," he told reporters here. "We don't want to damage the world economy."